


The Lone Shadow

by Mandkiva



Category: One Piece
Genre: Adventure, But Will Have A Happy Ending...Eventually, Dark, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Slight Angst at times, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2018-07-19 02:19:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 68,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7340653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mandkiva/pseuds/Mandkiva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An unknown serial killer has been gruesomly terrorizing the New World for the last 6 years, killing hundreds of people and showing no signs of stopping. One pirate captain accidentally stumbles upon her one night and takes quite the interest in her - and decides that he wants her on his crew. However, he doesn't realize what a dangerous and regretful decision that turns out to be. Slow burn that will lead to eventual smutty/lemony goodness, LawxOC.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Those Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! So just a quick heads up this is my first attempt at writing a fan fiction EVER. Please let me know how I'm doing and don't be shy to leave me comments and critics - may they be good or bad.  
> I can't get better if you guys don't help me.
> 
> This story will most definitely be rated E-for strong language, graphic violence, strong sexual references, and intense lemons that I will include later on. Hope you enjoy. This story is going to be a little dark so if you don't like that type of stuff then I would turn back now!
> 
> P.S - This story is also posted on fanfiction.net under the same username 'Mandkiva' if you're interested. 
> 
> I do not own One Piece, Eiichiro Oda does, however Asura and any other characters you don't recognize are all mine.

Somewhere deep in the New World, the streets of Kodachi Island were full and boisterous as pirates loomed around with glasses of sake in their hands and mischief in their hearts. The island was well known for being lawless and far away from any marine headquarters or bases located on the Grand Line and all pirates were fully aware they could cause as many fights or as much trouble as they wanted to and no one would ever know. Men were passed out in alleyways, either covered in booze or their own vomit or piss. Others could be found gambling away their treasures in games of poker as well as shell games scattered around town. Not many families could be found outside of their homes at this hour due to the fact they were all _fully_ aware of the consequences they would have to face.

One bar, in particular, was highly active and the sound of laughing and cheers coming from inside could be heard miles away. Pirates sat in groups all around the bar and conversed with each other over the sounds of music and other crews. Women who were dressed in skimpy and slutty clothes were littered around the room taking drink orders or simply keeping paying customers company. Doing anything they could to bring some type of money and profit into the bar. The more profit they earned...the less beatings they received during after hours when everyone else had gone home.

A girl sat alone at the busy bar, striking up a small conversation with the cute bartender whenever he wasn't busy tending to the needs of the other people calling for his attention. She sat with long straight hair that nearly reached her waistline, which was so black it slightly held a hint of blue to it whenever seen under the light. Her chocolate brown eyes had slightly glazed over some time ago between her sixth or seventh glass of sake and there was now a shy blush creeping on her face across her ghostly pale skin. Her full and luscious lips were painted a deep mahogany which complimented her skin well, but the dark color didn't hide a thin scar that ran vertically from the left side of her upper lip to the lower lip, stopping right before her chin. There was also a thicker scar running horizontally across her nose that stretched from one cheek to the other. Another was slightly hidden behind her long side bangs that ran diagonally through her right eyebrow, but didn't quite reach her eye. When looking closely, you could see more of them scattered along her arms, legs, back, and neck. One could only assume you would find even more of them underneath her clothes. She wasn't ashamed of them like most women would be. No. By her choice of clothing, you would even think she _enjoyed_ flaunting them to the world for everyone to see. She wore a dark olive colored spaghetti string tank top which showed off her D-sized chest and tight cotton black shorts which did very little to cover her curved and defined ass. To compliment her outfit, she wore black suede thigh high boots that had a good four to five inches of a heel on them that to an onlooker just _screamed_ sex appeal.

To say that Asura Hano had caught the eye of a few men in the bar would be an understatement, however the only person she seemed to be interested in right now was the blonde haired man in front of her who was too occupied with mixing drinks to notice her intense stare. She couldn't peel her eyes away from his perfect mouth as he subtly chewed on his bottom lip - a sure sign that he was slightly nervous from the large crowd in the bar tonight. She couldn't help but think about how those lips would feel as they gradually ate out her pussy or how good his teeth would feel when biting down on her nipples. Or of his rough hands caressing every inch of her body and those fingers bringing her to a sensational orgasm. But what thrilled her the most was what his eyes would look like as they stared back at hers while she slowly sliced open his neck after giving him a good fuck, watching as the blood began to flood out of his body and onto the floor. After all, her _favorite_ part was to watch the life leave their eyes as the fear that was previously there was replaced with that of death. And if she was lucky for him to leave work alone tonight...well then she would get to see _just_ that.

The bell at the front door of the bar chimed, interrupting her dark thoughts and indicating that a new group of pirates had arrived to get their fill of booze and women for the night. As if the place wasn't packed enough already. Asura didn't need to look up to sense the presence of four newcomers...wait...no...make that...three newcomers?

_'Well that's new...how rare for my instincts to be wrong...'_

She glanced away from her bartender and turned to the direction of the front door and was met with the sight of a large white polar bear dressed in an orange jumpsuit in a group with - yes - three other men.

_'Hmm..explains why I didn't quite notice him...I never expected to sense the presence of a bear in a tavern...'_

Normally one would be very shocked at the sight of a polar bear standing in the middle of a bar, but she had seen too many unusual things in her past to be shocked now. Without a look or care to see who he was with, she turned her attention back to the empty glass in front of her.

_'Done already? Suppose one more won't hurt...after that, I can go out back and wait for-'_

She was pulled from her thoughts once again by a loud howl and whistle from a table right behind her. Damn, she was really hoping that she would be able to have one night where she did not have to deal with the distasteful cat calls from obnoxious and idiotic men. She hated when her plans were interrupted. Especially on a night like this one. Rolling her eyes, she prepared herself for what she knew was coming next.

"Oiiiiiii! Sexy ass bitch sitting at the bar! Why don't ya come over here an drink some sake with us?"

A pirate sneered as he gestured to the men sitting around him with smirks on their faces before chiming in with their friend, "Fuck ya!" "Come on over here baby we promise we don't bite!"

She turned around to meet the eyes of the disgusting man who thought he could get anywhere by calling a lady a bitch. Perhaps the bartender's life could be sparred for another night? No no she couldn't do that. She wanted him. She _needed_ him. She had spent too much time waiting for him, just to let him go. So then what to do with this infuriating pile of pirate scum?

He had what seemed to be shoulder length blonde hair, but it was so filthy and greasy that he could easily pass as a brunette. There were a multitude of recents scars and bruises along his face and arms, indicating he was most likely in a fight not too long ago and that it had not been his first. His, what used to be, white button down shirt was stained with grease and sweat in areas she didn't think a body could produce and it appeared to be two sizes too small because whenever he moved a significant amount, a button seemed to pop off and fly off god knew where. Even while sitting down Asura could tell he was about six feet tall and roughly around three hundred and twenty pounds. But what she found most uninteresting of the man were his bloodshot eyes. The alcohol he had consumed all night had done a fair number on them and she wasn't even able to see what color they were. Eyes without an enticing color were of no use to her. This man just would not do.

She pulled her lips into a charismatic smile before replying in a soft voice,

"Oh. No thank you, good sir. This _bitch_ does, in fact, bite so I deem it wise we both stay where we are seated, alright?"

She turned around and gestured for the bartender to bring her one last glass of the same sweet and warm sake he had been serving her all night. He was the only one she wanted to focus on tonight. It was the only reason she had come out to town and she would not allow for some barbaric animal to ruin her plans.

Asura didn't flinch or move a muscle as an empty glass then flew by the right side of her head and shattered into the wall in front of her, missing both her head and thankfully the bartenders' as well. She would not allow for anything to scar that angelic face. No. No one was allowed to touch him but _her_.

Sighing, she turned once again to see that the same man was now standing up with a look of rage pointed directly at her.

"Who da fuck do ya think you're talkin to ya little cunt? I'm the first mate of the Brown Tooth Pirates ya know!"

With a chuckle at the ludicrous choice of a crew name, she grabbed the new glass of sake and chugged it all in one gulp before setting it down and reaching in her bra to grab a handful of bills, setting them down on the counter. The bartender eyed the wad of Beli before stammering out, "B-b-but Miss! That's way more than your tab. I can't possibly accept that much!"

The sound of his voice made her stop in her tracks, causing her heart to race faster with a sudden jolt of adrenaline. It was the first time he had spoken directly to her all night. When she had ordered her previous drinks, he had been too busy to stop and chat. Sure she had heard him mumble a little bit and she knew that part of a bartender's job was to talk with his customers, but it seemed tonight's large crowd had been a tad bit overwhelming for the young man. But hearing that voice - It..It had sent a nearly orgasmic sensation throughout her body and she wasn't sure if she would be able to suppress her urges any longer. Oh how _heavenly_ his screams would have sounded. But it seemed that someone else was requesting her attention for the night. And just like that, her plans for the night had been completely ruined. Someone would just have to take his place. She gave the bartender an apologetic glance and began to make her way to the fat fuck across the room.

"You're going to need it. Trust me." Before leaving she added with a sincere smile,

"Oh and Alexander...my sweet and charming Alexander. I really intended for us to spend so much more time together. We could have had such a pleasant time tonight. But alas! It seems the fate of our relationship ends here and for that, I am _truly_ sorry."

She turned away and missed the questionable glance from Alexander and slowly made her way over to the piece of filth that dared speak to someone as godly as herself. He was a mere human. Filthy trash. And she would deal with his incompetence thoroughly. The outraged man in front of her took his time to size the girl up and down until she stood only a feet away from him.

"Ya know baby-chan, you're one sexy ass bitch. I might be able to forgive ya...that is if ya get down on ya knees and suck-"

Before he could finish, she leaped into the air and connected her right leg to the left side of his skull, sending him flying straight through the concrete wall and onto the streets outside.

_'Good thing I tipped Alexander...I truly hope that does not take too much to fix.'_

Asura made her way outside through the hole in the wall. She didn't bother to glance at the stares from the occupants of the bar nor in the direction of rubble on the floor, knowing full well that Mister Fat Fuck was buried beneath it, most likely dead. Really she should have tortured him for ruining the night that she had planned weeks in advance. She should have gutted him on these very streets and stood above his corpse throughout the night to watch as the sewer rats made away with pieces of his body one at a time. But she wasn't in the mood for that. Any urge to kill had suddenly been taken away. And she was not one to kill without the urge to. It was against the rules. So she turned around and began to walk away. When she was a few feet away from the bar she heard a couple grunts and moans coming from behind her as the rubble fell to the floor.

 _'Well, I'll be damned. So he was able to survive such a kick? How...so...very amusing. Maybe I can have some fun after all...'_ While she was in thought, the pirate pulled out his gun from his pockets and made his way closer to her.

She heard the _click_ of a safety go off and Asura turned in time to stare straight into the barrel of Fat Fuck's gun which was pointed right between her eyes. His hands were shaking and he was breathing heavily to gain some air back into his most likely crushed lung before a fit of coughs took over, causing him to hunch his body slightly over as he spit out blood from his mouth. Through more coughs, he managed to get out,

"H-h-haaa?" *cough* "H-how's" *cough* "d-dat **bitch**?" *cough cough* "That shit d-didn't even f-fucking hurt."

With a cold stare, she decided to ignore his pathetic and predictable words. With a gun now pointed in her face, the situation had taken a very serious and risky turn. If treated naively it could end up being fatal. And _not_ for her. Looking him straight in his eyes she countered,

"Tell me, sir...is it in your intentions to eradicate me?"

"H-huh?"

Sigh. That was right. She forgot she was conversing with an uneducated twit. Putting her words into simpler terms Asura sneered,

"Do you wish to kill me, _big_ _boy_?"

He pushed the gun against her forehead now, causing a slight indention into her skin. "W-what's that? Ya scared baby-chan?" *cough* "But don't-cha worry I ain't gonna kill ya! Ain't dat right boys?" *cough cough cough*

He turned around to look at his crewmates, who broke into a fit of shouts and chants letting him know they approved of his words. He coughed several more times but chose to ignore it as he joined his crew in their unnecessary noise.

Turning back around to stare into her eyes with a smirk, showing off his foul and rotting teeth that was undoubtedly the signature of their pirate crew, he yelled,

"Nah I'll just take ya back to da ship and fuck da shit outta ya until the day ya die!" His crewmates broke out into deafening roars and howls, and she didn't move an inch as she thought of how much they resembled animals in the fucking wild. When the noise settled down, Asura glanced once again in the eyes of the disgusting man before her.

"You know Fat Fuck-san, I was raised with the guidance that if I was to ever pull a gun on someone, it would be for the intention of killing them. I would never imagine taking them as a sex slave."

"Then let me just fuck dat schweeeet pussy just once." *cough cough* "Afta dat I'll gladly kill ya!" Those last words were the exact ones she had been waiting for. For him to _physically_ say that he wanted to kill her. Because her urge was _instantly_ back and she wasted no time with her next movements.

Within a split second, Asura raised her leg behind her and grabbed a small dagger she had hidden beneath the curve of her heel and slashed through his throat before his mind could register what had even happened. Making sure to not sever his head completely off, she sliced deep enough through his muscle to cut through any major arteries and veins running through his neck. Blood instantly spurt out in different directions along her face and clothes and oozed out of the gash in his throat and, as his eyes rolled to the back of his head, his lifeless body fell face first onto the concrete with a loud _thump_. Immediately, a wave of thrill and relief shot out through her body. It was in _this_ exact moment where she felt the most calm. Where she could feel the world around her fading away as she went into a state of Nirvana and bliss. She could barely make out the screams from the people in the crowd. Or the shouts of the man's crew mates as they stared at their first mate's lifeless body on the floor. No. She could only hear the gurgling noises coming from her victim as he attempted to take his last breaths of life. Asura continued to stand above his body with her eyes closed and a smile on her face as a pool of blood began to form beneath her feet. With a deep breath and the opening of her eyes, she finally came back to reality. Just like that her moment was gone. But thankfully her urge had been fulfilled. Reaching down to wipe the blood on her dagger off onto his dirty shirt, she added with a malevolent grin on her face,

"Oh! And I was _also_ taught that if someone had the intention of killing you, well then you would just have to kill them first!"

Her own words caused her to break out in a fit of laughter. She just couldn't help herself after all! I mean the poor bastard had never even seen it coming! Such arrogance from such a poor excuse of a man! And now he was dead and drowning in his own blood in front of her feet! Then again, that was where all garbage belonged in the first place. Dead and left to rot away into the ground. She stood back up and kicked his head and watched as the force tore through the last pieces of skin and muscle that were holding it and his body together, causing it to roll a few feet away from her.

" _That_ was for ruining the sole of my perfectly good heels with your filthy fucking blood."

She looked around the crowd that had gathered and encircled them to see if any of his crewmates would want to take a chance with the girl who had just killed their comrade in cold blood. She wasn't very fond of killing in public, but the fat bastard had tested her patience with his unoriginal threats and remarks. He had ruined the plans for her initial victim so it was only fitting that he take his place, no? But it seemed that every last one of them had disappeared, abandoning the body of their deceased crewmate to rot away in the street. As Asura scanned the crowd that was full of nothing but panic-filled eyes, her gaze fell upon grey eyes that seemed to be filled with not horror but something else entirely - _amusement_. Well that definitely was a first. No one except for one person had ever gazed upon her actions with amusement before. And his eyes had _definitely_ not been grey.

She looked to the face of the owner of those alluring grey eyes and was slightly stunned to see a very handsome young man, probably in his mid 20's, with disheveled black hair that seeped out from underneath a hat that was made with the fur of some animal. His skin was the perfect shade of olive and it accented with his eyes fairly well. He was tall - probably around 6'4 - and although his body was hidden behind black jeans and a black hoodie, Asura could tell he was lean and fit, most likely with abs and muscle that women died for. His lips were pulled into a smirk at her gaze and he seemed to be lost in thought. Glancing at the yellow marks on his hoodie, she noticed that she had seen the symbol on it somewhere before and within seconds it clicked in her head.

_'Hmm...I wasn't aware the infamous Trafalgar Law has made it so deep into the New World. I can see his wanted poster really does not do him any justice. I also wasn't aware his crew consisted of a polar bear...cute. I assume it makes sense for the Surgeon of Death to find delight out of a cruel and callous kill in the middle of the street. I do hope you enjoyed the show, my dear dark doctor. Until we meet again.'_

Asura decided the time to ogle was at an end. She looked away and took one last glance down to the headless body at her feet, then turned to cut through the maze of people behind her. They wasted no time in pushing back to create a path for her to walk through. Without so much as a glance behind her, she continued to walk on the long path it would take to get home, reveling in the feeling of the cool wind blowing against her bloody skin and through her hair. Not paying attention to the grey eyes that bore into her back, she stretched her arms over her head with a low yawn and disappeared into the shadows, away from the eyes of anyone that had just witnessed her first kill in three months. ~~~~

* * *

 

The Heart Pirates were speechless at the scene that had just transpired right before their very eyes. They hadn't expected to witness a murder in the open streets on their very first night on the island. Some welcoming party that was...two of the four men were currently shaking and couldn't move from their spots. It wasn't every day that you saw a young and angelic looking woman deliver a kill that would make Satan himself giggle with joy. Surely though, their equally as ruthless captain would have an opinion on what they had seen...

"C-captain! D-d-d-did you see THAT?!" Shachi squealed against his crew mate Penguin, to whom he was holding onto for dear life. Penguin, trembling, returned the hold and yelped, "G-geez...how can someone s-so beautiful be so s-scary?!"

Bepo stayed quiet but dawned a look of concern on his face from the events that had just taken place, before he turned to see what his captain's reply would be. Law took a few minutes to respond as he was still mesmerized by what he had witnessed mere moments ago, the memory of her chocolate brown eyes etched into his mind. And that malevolent grin...there had been no trace of mercy or remorse in her actions. They had been brutal and inhuman and it was safe to say his interest had _in fact_ been piqued by the woman. With a small chuckle, he turned to the right and continued to walk onto the street, opposite of the way the mystery woman had vanished. His signature smirk never breaking from his face, the Surgeon of Death replied,

"Yes...just how can they indeed."


	2. Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own One Piece, Eiichiro Oda does. Asura is all mine. Enjoy!

_"Mommy?"_

_She was making her way through a lonely, dark corridor when she first heard the voice. It had started out as a low hum, making it impossible to decipher what the noise was or where it was coming from. But then it began to grow louder the deeper she walked into the corridor. After some time, she could see all the way to the end of the hallway, to the barely illuminated dark door that hopefully led to a way of finding the voice. There were a couple of dim lights left on to better help guide her. Just where could she be? She felt so exposed, with no room to duck into, with no stairs to take. Coldness crept onto her spine and she felt gravity pulling her down as if strong invisible gazes were watching her. She had to focus on the little light visible at the end of the hallway, pushing herself farther and farther into the endless path._

_"Mommy? Mommy?"_

_She was closer to the door now. The voice was louder and she could now tell it belonged to a young girl. Who could it be? Just what was she supposed to do when she found her? What if the young girl was in trouble? Was she there to protect her? She couldn't help the feeling of bile rising in her throat and the sweat starting to form on her forehead as she was merely inches from the door handle now. She reached her hand out to grab the handle but hesitated before opening the door. She was uncertain of what she would find inside. What if it was a trap? Maybe the young girl was being held elsewhere? Should she turn around?_

_"MOMMY!"_

_No she was certain this time that the little girl's voice had come from the other side of the door. Wasting no time she swung it open to reveal an averaged sized master bedroom. The lights were off making it hard to see anything, but there was a single window on one side of the room, allowing the light from the moon to seep in, helping her make out a small figure on the floor in the middle of the room. The figure was hunched over with its hands covering its eyes. It seemed to be crying. Could this be...? Standing in the doorway, her eyes began to readjust to the darkness and she could now see that the figure was a young girl hunched over two bodies on the floor. She could also make out the bodies were laying in a pool of some liquid and judging by the way that neither body seemed to be moving, she could tell that whoever they were, they were more than likely dead._

_"MOMMY! DADDY! MOMMY! DADDY! MOMMY! DADDY!" The young girls' screams and chants grew deafening as she cried for her deceased parents._

_It probably wasn't best for the little girl to be there right now, so she took a step into the room and before her foot touched the ground, the young girl had stopped her cries and turned to face the newcomer. She could finally get a better look at the kid. The young girl had black hair and big brown eyes with pale skin. She was dressed in dirty clothing and the state of her clothes and hair gave away that she was a child of the streets and had not had a proper shower in months. But what stuck out to her was that this child's face showed no signs of recent tears. There were no red puffy eyes, no sniffly running nose, no tear marks on her cheeks...but there was a sinister grin taking its place on her face. Looking into the child's hands, she saw the girl was holding a bloodied kitchen knife. The little girl then spoke up,_

_"Come closer so I can see your face lady."_

_When she saw no movement from her guest, she gave a pout._

_"I'm not going to hurt you...I hurt them because they were bad. Really bad. Like super duper BAD. They had it coming you know. They didn't deserve to live. Nope! Didn't deserve to liveee! Now they're just dead dead deeeaaad! Dead dead dead!" She began singing to herself chanting "dead dead dead" over and over again._

_She was still frozen in place at the doorway, refusing to take her eyes off the child, just in case she wanted to try anything funny. Who the fuck was this little girl? Had she just murdered her own family? Looking at the bodies you could see their throats had been poorly sliced, probably because the child wasn't strong enough for one clean cut. There were numerous stab marks on their faces and bodies, making it impossible to tell what these peoples faces looked like prior to their death...Jesus she needed to get out of here. Should she go back the way she came? She didn't know how she would find an escape but she had to atleast try..._

_But before she could turn around, the young girl spoke again, however this time she was much closer to her and she could now make out the child's face perfectly._

_She..no...nonononononono...She widened her eyes in horror upon seeing the girls face so close for the first time, letting her know exactly who the child was..._

_"Want to know another reason why I won't hurt you?"_

_"W-why...?"_

_"Because silly!" She giggled for several seconds before her laughter filled smile turned malicious again, with her eyes filled with darkness and rage, "I'm...YOU!"_

Asura suddenly jerked awake to the sound of something buzzing in her room. She jerked her head around to see where she was and instantly calmed down when she recognized the walls of her own room and not the walls of that dreadful house...shit it had happened again...that same dream from before. She never failed to wake up with her sheets and body completely soaked in sweat and to be honest it was beginning to get a little old. She had gone six months without a sleepless night, so what triggered it now? Could it be her kill from last night? No that's ridiculous. She killed that one boy three months ago and had not had the dream. She glanced down to her watch which read **7:32 am**.

_'No...I just need five more minutes.'_

She slumped back into her pillow and closed her eyes hoping to get just a couple more minutes of sleep before the buzzing sound from before returned, this time much closer to her ear. Without opening her eyes, she shot up her hand and grabbed at the air next to her ear. She opened her right eye and stared down at the fly that lay dead in her palm.

With a croaky voice she mumbled, "Serves you right."

With a sigh, she realized she wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep so she got up and tossed the fly out through the open window in her room.

_'I guess that's what I get for living in a tree with no closable windows...'_

Judging by the warm rays of light creeping their way into her home, she figured that her prayers for a rainy day had not been answered since those were the perfect days to go about town undetected. Asura groaned at the thought of how busy the town's market would be today, but since she was completely out of supplies and food, she decided that she really had no other choice. Recollecting her actions from the previous night, it would probably be wise to disguise her appearance just in case any of Fat Fuck's crew mates wanted to try something funny. That dream always managed to take away her urge for killing that day for some reason.

Looking around her home, Asura felt a slight sense of anguish wash over her as she knew their time together was coming to an end. For being a shack in the trees, the home she had built this time around had really been good to her. It hid her far away from the eyes of any civilians and, to everyone's knowledge, this place didn't even exist. When she first moved here two months ago she had immediately taken note of the townspeople's unjustified fear of the woods on the east side of their island, so deemed it the perfect place to build her new home. Also, since she usually slept naked, it definitely was a plus to be able to walk around bare in her own place without the stress of someone seeing her. Not to mention Asura was someone who, in fact, _thrived_ on her privacy.

On the first day here, she had found enough sturdy and sensible wood to be able to construct two rooms so that her bedroom wasn't in the same room as the living room like it had been last time. Her "bed" was made up of 2 thick blankets that she slept on and another thinner one that she pulled over herself for nights that got cold, which was rare since Kodachi was a summer island. She also had a large suitcase in her room which served as a type of closet, because due to her nature of frequently moving homes, she rarely had space to acquire the enormous wardrobe that she yearned for. In the other room, she had built a table and chair, which was where she did all of her researching and planning. Other than that, it was as simple as a treehouse could be and she was going to miss it dearly, just like she missed all of her other homes.

_'What I wouldn't give to be able to permanently stay somewhere and build a real home...'_

Pushing these thoughts to the back of her mind, Asura moved to her suitcase, kneeled down and popped it open with the combination lock and peered inside. "Well, it looks like I'll be going blonde today. This'll surely be fun."

She pulled out her favorite blonde wig and set it down on her bed while she thought about what outfit to wear. Grabbing a shirt and pants, she dug deeper into the suitcase to find a fishnet hairnet before pulling her hair into a bun over her head. Making sure no unruly hairs were sticking out, she grabbed the wig and carefully put it over the hairnet. The wig was platinum blonde and fell into a bob cut just below the ears and had front bags that almost completely covered her eyes. She grabbed the shirt she picked which was a white sleeveless turtleneck that matched perfectly with her favorite maroon colored jeans. Putting on her nude open-toed thin strap heels, she turned to the full-length mirror she had found in a dumpster and gave herself a quick once-over, very pleased with what she saw. Gazing at her scars she hoped that nobody would recognize them since she wasn't really able to cover them. No amount of cover up could hide them, but she oddly liked it that way. She couldn't hide something that made her into who she was.

She then headed over to her luggage for one last item. Beneath all of her clothes lay a chrome briefcase that required a fingerprint scan to be opened. Pressing her thumb against the scanner she waited five seconds before hearing the familiar click and opened it, coming face to face with 12 stacks of neatly organized Beli, each stack holding at least 40,000,000 each. Sighing to herself, she thought back to all she had done in order to land all of this money.

Growing up in this world had truly been one hell of a ride. Asura's birth parents had given her up for adoption the moment she had left her mother's womb. It wasn't long before she grew to the age of five and developed a rebellious attitude that had her jumping from foster home to foster home. Every family she was given to was exactly the same. When placed in a room with the other children, they always seemed to notice her first. The other kids loathed her for it and often beat her up or teased her immensly. Maybe it was because of the black hair and brown eyes that were unusual for an island full of blonde hair and blue-eyed children. The only thing she had in common with them was the pale skin. She never understood why the families all wanted to pick her. She wasn't anything special.

Each new "family" would have such hope and affection in their eyes upon seeing her that they wouldn't even take the time to read through files of reports from the other families she had previously been with. They couldn't wait to add her to what they thought would be their perfect family. Each lasted about a couple days, maybe a week if they thought they were confident enough to change her behavior and shape her into the ideal child. In the end, all the hope and affection in their eyes would be replaced with animosity and disgust and Asura would be returned back to the orphanage.

She began to think the headmistress had given up on her after the fifteenth family and was about to send her to another orphanage in another town...that is until _he_ came and found her.

Whenever someone wanted to come see the orphanage, all the children would be prepped and cleaned in order to meet new "mommies and daddies that would come pick their favorite to take home." And it always ended the same. Couples would argue over who got to take Asura home until the orphanage picked the family with the highest income, obviously for their own personal gain. Then the rest would give up and go home without so much of a glance towards the other kids.

But this time had been different. No other children had accompanied her into the viewing room. It had just been the old bat of a headmistress, Miss Thompson, and Asura. Entering the room the first thing she noticed was a kind and young looking man surrounded by seven larger and scarier looking men with sunglasses on. She remembered thinking how absurd that was. _'Who would need sunglasses for indoors?'_ , she had thought.

Another thing she also remembered was noticing the fact that he was alone. She had looked around the room for the "mommy" of the family but soon saw him and his men were the only adults present, other than Miss Thompson. The kind looking man had then spoken up and she can still remember how she was instantly pulled in by his voice.

_*Flashback*_

_"My my, Miss Thompson, I do believe your voice over the phone does not do your appearance any justice. You are much more beautiful than I could have imagined."_

_His voice was almost mesmerizing and soothing, and as his attention was turned away, Asura took it as a chance to better study his features._

_He looked to be in his late twenties, early thirties. He had slightly tanned skin, with twinkling nomad-blue eyes. He had cheeks that were chiseled like a finely-carved Michelangelo statue, with a perfectly symmetrical nose. His hair was golden brown and was slicked back with gel, allowing his facial features the chance to fully be seen. His lips were slightly full and were pulled into a daring grin towards Miss Thompson, showing off his straight and pearly white teeth. He looked like he was dressed in expensive clothing, but at the time, she had no experience of designer wear to know the difference. The man was quite handsome and the bastard definitely knew it._

_"O-ohhh, I-I'm terribly flattered Mister Curtis, I-I was not aware I would be in the presence of such a handsome young man such as yourself."_

_Never once in the five years she had grown up here had Asura ever seen Miss Thompson flustered or with a blush on her face. She always dawned the look of an old grumpy bitch who hadn't been laid in decades. Just who was this man?_

_He then looked straight into her eyes for the first time since his arrival. A dark devilish grin creeped onto his face, unnoticed by her guardian, before it quickly disappeared and turned into one of joy and excitement. The sight made shivers go down Asura's spine and she almost froze in place. Almost._

_"And just who do we have here? Miss Asura I presume?"_

_Gaining confidence, she looked him dead in the eyes with a cold stare and gave out a hiss through her lips. "How the hell do you know my name, old man? Just who the fuck are you?"_

_"ASURA!"_

_Earning a slap to the cheek from the headmistress, she turned back to the man with an apologetic stare._

_"I-I apologize Mister Curtis, she has quite the mouth for a five-year old. I am unaware of where she learned such language, but I can assure you she can be taught to forget. I am confident she will be very happy with you and your...urm...wife?"_

_Ignoring her last comment, his piercing gaze still held Asura's cold one and he chuckled darkly. "I will see to it that she learns just that...among other things as well."_

_"Hmph. Like I'll listen to anything you say...baka..."_

_Ignoring the girl's mumbles, he gestured for Miss Thompson to lead their way to her office. "Miss Thompson I believe we have paperwork to finish, no? Also, if you were to ever be so kind, I would appreciate all of the information and files you have on our young and energetic Asura-chan. My wife likes to keep records of anything and everything that pertains to our lives."_

_Her face fell at the mention of a wife and sourly she began,_ _"Of course Mister-"_

_"Please please, why so formal? Call me Richard. I insist." Earning a blush from the woman again._

_"Of course...Richard. Right this way."_

_With a quick wink sent Asura's way, he signaled for his men to follow him except for one. "Louis, can you take my new **daughter** to the car, please? Our business here won't take long."_

_"Yes, sir."_

_Grabbing Asura by the arms, the tall man hoisted her up and carried her out the door ignoring her screams and punches. They only seemed to make the walk faster to the car parked outside. Once outside she gaped at the thing she saw before her. The black "car" wasn't like anything she had ever seen before. It was...so...so long! The man must have noticed her confused stare._

_"It's a limousine. Similar to a stretched out car." Opening the door of the limousine he roughly threw her inside. "Now get inside and wait quietly for your new daddy like a good little girl."_

_"That man is NOT my dad!" She spat in his face. He didn't say anything as he wiped the spit from his forehead and slammed the door shut. The first thing she did was grab for the door on the other side but as luck obviously wasn't on her side, it was locked. Glancing around the long car she saw no other means of escape. Guess all she could do was sit tight and wait for the strange man claiming to be her new father to come back._

_Not even five minutes later, he returned to the car as Louis held the door open for him. Asura didn't miss the reflection of something shiny pass from his hands into the hands of another one of his men. It was also dripping with something red, but she didn't get a good enough look to see exactly what it was. Richard slipped into the seat next to her while Louis waited for all men to get inside before he shut the door and made his way to the driver's seat._

_"Where to now, sir?"_

_"The train station Louis. Our work on this island is finished."_

_That caused for Asura to give him a nervous and terrified look. "We're leaving the island? But why? No, I don't want to leave! I've never left here before! Please! Does Miss Thompson know you're taking me away?! She won't let you do this! Hey! Mister!"_

_With his eyes glued to his phone, he didn't bat an eyelash at her protests. He didn't even have a look of sorrow or anguish on his face before he said his next words. "Oh, I think she can. Miss Thompson's body is currently face down and drowning in her own blood while her severed head is sitting atop her desk. As for the rest of the inhabitants of that vile thing they called an orphanage, well they won't be speaking to anyone due to the slashes in their tiny little throats. I suggest you keep your mouth shut for the rest of our trip unless you want to end up the same way."_

_She immediately froze up at his words. 'What? Is everyone really dead? Even the other kids? But...but why...? W-why did he do that? Just who is this man? Where is he taking me? And better yet...just what is he going to do with me?'_

_"U-um...I h-have one last q-question...s-s-sir..." Flinching away, Asura was afraid that if she spoke too loud he would end her life as promised. He gave a hummed response that told her it was okay to continue._

_"J-just...what is it you plan on doing with me?"_

_For the first time the entire car ride he looked up from his phone and deep into her widened eyes with a frightening smile on his face. Till this day, she can clearly remember the thirst and excitement that clouded those hypnotic blue orbs._

_"Ohhhh. I'm afraid that is going to have to be a_ surprise _sweetheart."_

_*End Flashback*_

She turned her attention back to the wads of money sitting in front of her. _'I guess all those years of taking jobs and stealing from victims slightly paid off huh Richard...'_ God, all of that seemed like so long ago, but the memories were as clear as ever in her mind. However, she couldn't afford to think about the past when there was work to be done. Shaking her head, Asura turned her attention back to the money in her hand.

_'Okay let's see...there should be around 480,000,000 left in here. I should be able to attain all the food and supplies I need for my next trip with just 100,000.'_

Grabbing the necessary amount of money needed, she closed the briefcase and tucked it back at the bottom of her suitcase. Grabbing her aviator sunglasses off of the table in the living room she headed out the door and jumped down 40 feet to the ground below, landing gracefully, and started to make her way to the town a couple miles away.


	3. Bepo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own One Piece, Eiichiro Oda does. Asura is all mine. Enjoy!

_*On the far East Coast of Kodachi Island, a few minutes from Asura's treehouse*_

Law's submarine was docked on a deserted beach off the east coast of Kodachi Island, the complete opposite side of the town. He was fully aware that it was a lawless island and his sub would not be spotted by any marines, but the marines were the least of his worries at the moment. He deemed it best to be as far away from other pirate crews as he could, since his recent takedown of Doflamingo along with Monkey D. Luffy had cost many of the underworld's notorious pirates great amounts of money. Many who were currently searching for him and his crew. And he preferred to avoid any major conflict since his right arm had not fully healed yet. Once Doflamingo was killed he had met up with the rest of the Heart Pirates on the island of Zou, then parted ways from the Strawhats and embarked towards their next destination which had brought them to Kodachi.

Law watched as his crew walked back and forth between the submarine and the beach stocking the sub with the food and supplies they had purchased that morning. Turning to his first mate who stood quietly behind him he said,

"Bepo."

"Yes, Captain?"

"How much longer until the log pose is set for the next island?"

Bepo fidgeted slightly in his spot and clutched tighter onto Law's nodachi, uncertain if his captain would be pleased with his response, before replying, "About 3 more hours." Hanging his head he added, "I'm sorry."

Law gave a slight nod and turned back to watching over his men. "Very well. Inform Jean Bart-ya that I would like for us to submerge not a minute later."

"Yes, Captain."

Glancing down at his crew he figured he could afford to give them a quick break before they had to submerge again. Who knew how long they would be under this time. Grabbing their attention he said,

"Alright men. You are free to roam the island wherever you wish as long as you avoid any trouble or unnecessary attention. I would like for all of you to be back in two hours. Anyone who returns later than that will clean the entire submarine for a month. Do I make myself clear?"

He was met with shouts of "Yes Captain!" from his men. "Good. You are free leave." With his final words, everyone mostly paired off into groups or pairs of two and set off to enjoy their last two hours on land.

With Bepo and his crew gone Law was left alone with his thoughts, which were mostly focused on the events that had transpired the previous night and the woman that had been a part of them. He had never seen a woman with the ability to kill in cold blood with no hint of discomfort or even fucking hesitation before. Law never spent his time fawning or fantasizing over women like his crew mates or a certain Strawhat did...but he just couldn't help think about how intriguing she was to him. It wasn't everyday you found someone with the same ruthless killing style as your own and he wondered how well she could possibly fit in with the men of his crew. However, there were many things he did not know about her and he had to tread lightly, especially after the warning that Bepo had disclosed to him last night.

_*Flashback*_

_It was nightfall and Law, Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin had been walking for over 6 miles before they first saw any sign of civilization on the warm and humid island. Law hadn't been aware of how far from the town they had actually docked the submarine. After the fifth mile Penguin and Shachi had begun to complain of how drained and thirsty they were, and although Bepo did not say a word, Law was fully aware that his first mate was not particularly fond of the island's weather either._

_"Captain! Captain! Look there's a bar up ahead! Can we please go inside?"_

_"Yes, Captain please! I'm dying over here!" Cried his two engineers and with a sigh, Law turned to Bepo and gave him a questionable look._

_"Bepo, any trouble?"_

_The polar bear lifted his nose in the air in the direction of the bar and took a whiff. He looked at Law and replied, "Nope. I smell tons of booze and sweaty men and women and food and-" He paused and lowered his glance to the ground and stood silently before Law asked,_

_"And?"_

_"Uh..blood. A lot of it. But...it's not fresh."_

_With this, Law glanced at the bar and contemplated whether his crew would be safe to go inside. He knew that they all needed a quick drink if they were going to have to walk back to the sub in this heat. Putting his faith in his crew mates and keeping Bepo's discovery in mind, he made his decision and began to walk forward._

_"Fine. Let's go."_

_"YES!"_

_"Captainnnn! Bless you!" Running up ahead, Penguin and Shachi practically tripped on their own feet in excitement as they made it over to the booming bar._

_The bell chimed when they opened the door and Law took a quick second to scan the room for any possible signs of a threat. He saw many no name pirate crews that were all so blatantly drunk, they were no more dangerous than young children. He felt a tap at his shoulder and looked to his left to see Bepo pointing to something in the room. "Over there. She's the one who smells like blood Captain." Following the direction of Bepo's finger, Law turned his head and his eyes immediately fell onto a woman sitting at the bar. He was almost certain this was the "she" that Bepo was referring to, as her appearance screamed danger and sex appeal. He couldn't help but take notice of the way that her long black hair fell gracefully down her back, of how her enormous voluptuous chest almost spilled out of her shirt, and her curved and tight juicy ass shifting around on her chair, making Law want to walk over and fuck her right on the bar counter. Distracted by his own thoughts and the bulge beginning to form in his pants, he failed to notice the glance said woman through their way, eyeing his first mate and then returning her attention to the bar._

_Shaking his head to stop his train of thoughts, he grew frustrated that he had dwelled on a woman for longer than a few seconds._

_'What is this? Get yourself together. She's just another hot piece of ass.'_

_Having had his fair share of women during his time on the Grand Line, he scowled at himself for allowing a mere woman occupy his mind in such a manner. However her several scars and the fact she smelled of blood had him wondering who she was and what she had been through. The sound of glass being thrown against the wall pulled his attention back to the bar and to the woman currently sitting there with a calm expression on her face._

_"Who da fuck do ya think you're talkin to ya little cunt?"_

_Law turned to see the source of the comment coming from a large man who appeared to be drunk off his ass and probably unaware of what he was doing. He deduced that he had been the one to throw the glass at the mystery woman. Not particularly interested enough to step in, he waited along a wall with his crew to see what she would do to retaliate._

_She exchanged some words with the bartender that Law couldn't hear, but gladly took note of the fact she kept wads of Beli hidden in her bra. Making her way over to the drunk bastard, the next thing he knew she had leapt in the air with such prestige and grace that it almost distracted him from the likely killing blow that she had delivered to the unfortunate pirate. To Law and everyone else's surprise, the large man was sent through the wall and onto the streets outside. As the woman made her way outside, Law smirked and gestured for his crew to follow after her._

_"But captain what about our drinks?" Penguin whined as Law made his way outside._

_"Penguin-ya I don't believe I see a bartender behind the bar. Do you?"_

_Turning to the counter Penguin noticed that the bartender had vanished and was most likely outside in the crowd that had begun to gather. "But she knocked him out right? Where's everyone going? There's no way he can get back up! Come on I want a drink!"_

_A few shouts and cheers then came from outside, answering his questions._

_Making their way to the front of the crowd, Shachi couldn't help but complain one last time. "Damn it...and just when we were about to-" Cutting himself off he stared wide eyed at the scene that was occurring before them, quickly forgetting about his drink. "H-hey! He has a gun pulled on her! No fair!" Turning to Law, he moaned out,_

_"Oh noooo...Captain, is she going to be okay? She's too beautiful to die! We gotta help her!"_

_"I believe that woman is quite capable of taking care of herself Shachi-ya. Now stay quiet and observe."_

_His mind was currently reeling with the information he had gathered so far on this enigmatic woman. Remembering her kick from inside, he was still stunned as to how she had dealt such a powerful blow with no means of momentum. She had simply leaped into the air and delivered what would usually be a fatal kick. 'Maybe she has a Devil Fruit power? That would be a plausible explanation...and also why did Bepo detect the stench of so much blood on her? And just where -or who - had she received those scars from? ' The sound of her voice then put a pause on his thoughts._

_"Do you wish to kill me, big boy?" He frowned at her stupidity. 'Of course he does. Idiot, is she trying to encourage him?'_

_The man's reply then made Law's blood boil with fury. He didn't know why but the idea of that repulsive man having his way with such a woman was enough to have him grab his nodachi from Bepo. Ignoring the comment he had given Shachi just a few moments ago he was ready to step in and dispose of the piece of shit, but before he could mutter out the word "Room", he was surprised by the response she then gave him._

_"You know Fat Fuck-san, I was raised with the guidance that if I was to ever pull a gun on someone, it would be for the intention of killing them. I would never imagine taking them as a sex slave." Smirking to himself he had to admit that she had guts. Not once had a hint of fear crossed her face, and the more she spoke, the more he found himself hypnotized by her voice._

_"Then let me just fuck dat schweeeet pussy just once. Afta dat I'll gladly kill ya!" Nor Law or his crew or anyone in the crowd had prepared themselves for what they witnessed next._

_Without so much of a blink, she had pulled a dagger from beneath her heel and sliced through the man's neck in one swift movement. The poor bastard never even saw it coming. Blood covered her face and clothes and although there were screams and cries coming from the crowd, her demeanor did not falter. Her eyes held a hint of pleasure and Law could tell she thoroughly enjoyed the feel of slicing open a man's throat in cold blood. As the bastard's body fell to the floor, Trafalgar Law couldn't help but gaze at her in absolute awe and amusement with a giant smirk plastered on his face._

_However, her next words were what instantly caught his undivided attention. "I was also taught that if someone had the intention of killing you, you would just have to kill them first."_

_'Just what is it you have been taught my dear? And just what will it take for me to find out?'_

_Keeping his eyes on her the entire time, he watched as she slowly stood up to kick the head of her victim off of his body and proceed to scan the crowd for any other possible threat until her eyes locked with his own. She seemed to recognize him and register that he was of few people who was not afraid of her and slowly gave him a once over taking in all of his features, before turning to walk away through the crowd, disappearing into the shadows._

_Penguin and Shachi seemed to be trembling from the events that had just taken place. Their drinks long forgotten, they couldn't help but stutter as they spoke,_

_"C-captain! D-d-d-d-did you see that?!"_

_"G-geez...how can someone s-so beautiful be so s-scary?!"_

_Law noticed that Bepo stood quietly with a look of concern on his face. It seemed that his warning from before had in fact been justified, and it only urged Law to find out more about the enticing woman. Figuring his crew had had enough excitement for the night, he turned around and slowly began to make his way back to the submarine._

_"Yes...how can they indeed."_

_*End Flashback*_

Running his hands through his hair, he gave out a deep sigh. Why couldn't he get her off of his mind?

She was definitely more appealing appearance wise than any other woman he had ever slept with. However, he wasn't one to relish in the looks of a woman for too long. He knew that she had a general background in martial arts, as it was evident from last night. He also depicted that behind that face and angelic voice was a sadistic woman who craved despair and torture. Putting all of her physical assets aside, he determined that _that_ unknown side of her was what really pulled him in. Everything about her was a mystery. And everyone was aware that Law just loved to solve a mystery. However he was not one to put his crew's safety in jeopardy for just one person. They were still close to Zou island and the marines would be here anytime now looking for them. But if fate so happened to be on his side, then he would find her in these next two hours before they had to leave.

Pulling his lips into his signature smirk, he came to a conclusion. _'I want her on this crew.'_

Except, he had no idea how difficult it would be for that to actually happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know that Luffy and Law didn't kill Doffy. It's just how my little heart hoped for things to go down but we all know Oda wouldn't let that happen! Since the Dressrosa arc has been finished here, you can safely assume my story takes place after that.


	4. As Luck Would Have It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own One Piece, Eiichiro Oda does. Asura is all mine. Enjoy!

After thirty minutes of strolling through the woods, Asura made her way into the busy streets of Kodachi's food market. Looking around, all that could be seen were crowds of people pushing, shoving, and shouting as they tried to obtain all the groceries they needed before rush hour started. People rushed by, parents and children or other family members and even friends causing the constant buzz of noises.

The stall owners either served queues of customers or shouted out ranges of compliments and encouragements to passers-by to attract them with their products. The actions of the stall owners were almost robotic: smiling, picking up an item and packing it, then giving it back to the customer. The swap between the seller and buyer was extremely quick and hard to follow with the bare eye. Around the corner, she could smell the fresh aroma of coffee and the baker's sweet buttery perfume. It was so distinct and fresh, it _almost_ completely masked the disgusting and foul smell of the fish and meat that also roamed the air.

She made her way over to a rugged old man who was sitting underneath a large umbrella, fanning himself with a straw fan under the torrid heat of the sun. Next to him was a stand of a multitude of promising and tasty looking fruits.

"Excuse me, sir. How much for a pound of your greenest and sourest apples?" Glancing up from his fanning, the old man gave her a sly wink.

"Usually I sell em for 1100 Beli a pound. But I'll give it to ya for 900 Beli how's that sound, pretty lady?"

"Why that would be much appreciated, thank you. In fact, I'll take two pounds. Here you go."

Handing over the necessary amount of cash she sent him a sweet smile before gathering the bags of fruit and making her way to the next stop on her shopping list. Next to the fruit stand was two assorted shops. The smell emanating from the shops tingled her nose. The mixture of onion, garlic, dried fish, and spices made for a potent combination.

_'Must be what I smelled earlier. Ugh, how disgusting.'_

She held her breath for a moment as she quickly walked past the shops. It was a wonder how the people working inside those shops could stand the smell.

_'They must be used to it. Poor unfortunate souls.'_

Asura was lost in thought when a man dressed in a white shirt and navy pants came jogging down the street and straight into her right shoulder, knocking down the bags of apples she just paid for. Without so much of a "sorry" or a glance in her direction, he continued to jog through the busy streets knocking down a fair number of other people as well. Leaning down to gather the fruit, she began mumbling to herself.

"The nerve of some people. A simple 'excuse me' would have sufficed. It's like-"

Before she could finish, she was interrupted by the foot of another man crushing her hand that was reaching for the last piece of fruit as, he too, was jogging in the same direction as the man before him.

"FUCK." She hissed out through clenched teeth. "That's it."

Standing up with her bags, she gently rubbed her hand and turned to follow them, every ounce of blood in her body urging to give both men a piece of her mind. Once she was close behind she spotted the first man by his white shirt and navy pants and scanning the crowd she quickly noticed the second man not far behind him, donning the same outfit. It suddenly clicked to her where she had seen those clothes before.

With a heavy sigh, Asura's anger subsided as she accepted defeat, giving up on her mission for revenge. She turned around to begin walking back towards her previous location.

"Well...those bastards are lucky they're a part of the marines. Their occupation has just spared them their pitiful lives. Ah well..."

That sentence seemed to set off alarms in her mind and she couldn't figure out just why she suddenly felt so uneasy. She replayed the words in her head, trying to figure out what part seemed unusual...until she remembered…

_'Marines. Marines on Kodachi...I was under the impression there were none on this island...So why did I see two just now? Why are there marines on an island that is praised for how far it is from any bases or headquarters...? Dammit how could I have missed this?!'_

Slapping a hand to her face she looked through her fingers at the crowd of people and, sure enough, picked out at least fifteen more marines running about in the same hectic manner. Their faces didn't seem to be relaxed and their actions were highly rushed. She knew they were looking for something...or someone. But who?

_'There's no way they could have found me...'_

There was a light tap on her shoulder and Asura quickly turned around to stare straight into the face of a young and tired looking Marine Petty Officer. He looked as though he hadn't slept properly in days and judging by his facial features she could tell he wasn't a day over twenty-five. With a quick smile, she changed her voice into the highest and sweetest southern belle accent she could muster before asking,

"Why hell-llooooo there Mister Petty Officer sir! To what do I owe the pleasure? Ya know it has been suuuuuch a long time since we've seen any marines on our little island! Oh please just puh-leeeease tell me y'all are here to get rid of all them darn pirates and crooks runnin' about town."

Judging by his pained reaction to her high-pitched and annoying voice, Asura noted that he probably didn't have the strength or patience to hold a conversation for long. ' _Perfect_.'

"I'm sorry to disturb you, ma'am. We are under strict orders from our Captain to ask any civilians if they have seen or heard anything about this woman."

Holding up a freshly printed wanted poster, she glanced between his face and her photo without batting an eyelash or abandoning her fake smile.

"She goes by the name 'Kodokuna Kage' and is wanted by the government for serious crimes committed on other islands. She is highly dangerous and is known to be traveling alone. An anonymous tip tells us she arrived on this island two months ago. Please if you know anything, we would highly appreciate it if you could share any information with us."

"Ohhh I'm sorry darlin'! But there ain't noooo woman lookin' like that round these parts! See, I know every nook and cranny of this here island and a pretty woman like that would stand out like a sore thumb in this crummy old town. I know every and _any_ body that sets foot on our island and I'm telling ya, I ain't neva eva evaaaaa seen her around here before. It seems y'alls tip was wrong. Sorry pumpkin, I wish I coulda been more help!"

Sending him a wink, he tried to fight back the blush creeping on his lips before stammering out,

"P-please if you hear anything, don't hesitate to let any of us know. We're working long and hard to make sure she brings no harm to your...isla...n...d."

His gaze seemed to intensify as he finally took the time to get a better look of her face. Something about this woman didn't sit right with him. He just couldn't pinpoint what it was.

"U-uh..also...has there been anything...uh...u-unusual that has happened recently?"

She watched the way his eyes scanned her face and didn't miss the slight dilation in his pupils when his gaze fell upon her few scars. Had he recognized her? No. No the look on his face told her that he wasn't sure...maybe he was still contemplating the situation? He probably thought he was too exhausted and that his eyes were playing tricks on him. However, she couldn't take that chance. Which meant she had to do something quickly. But what? She had not planned for something like this to happen, which meant she had no weapons on her at the moment. She tried to think of something to do when an idea popped in her head.

_'Hmm...sorry about this darling."_

"Heyyy buttercup, you know somethin'? There was word 'round here this morning that some crazy brunette killed some darn pirate at one of the taverns last night. I ain't sure if its her or not but by the things you told me I reckon she could be the lass you and your men have been searchin' for, don't ya think? I can show you where the tavern is if you'd like. Its just through that alley way right over there!"

Pointing to the first dark alley she saw, she turned her gaze to him and tried to keep her face as innocent and kind as she could.

He hesitated for a quick moment, looking over his shoulder to see if any of his comrades were nearby but when he didn't see any he turned back to the woman in front of him. She sure was a strange one...pretty...but strange. Heck for a moment there, he had thought she could be Kodokuna, but that was just ridiculous. From the briefing his Captain had given him, their target was a cold blooded killer, but the woman in front of him didn't look like she could hurt a fly. He had been so overworked in the past week, his mind probably wanted to make a suspect out of every woman he saw. But the information this woman had given him could prove to be a breakthrough for them. If he found anything, he would surely be rewarded. Maybe Captain would finally let him sleep for once...making up his mind he smiled at the woman in front of him.

"That would be great ma'am. Lead the way."

"Actually could you meet me in the alley darlin'? I forgot to pay the stall owner for the other bag of these apples! It'll only take a quick second and then we can go."

She gave him a warm smile and wink and didn't wait for his reply before she began to make her way to a random food stall. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as the marine listened to her directions and made his way over to the alley she had chosen.

_'That's a good boy.'_

She waited a few minutes so that her lie seemed legitimate before making her way to the alley as well. Upon entering, she turned around towards the streets to make sure they were unfollowed and out of sight before turning back to the young man. Her eyes immediately turned dark with malice as her cover of being an innocent citizen was over. He hadn't noticed her yet and his back was turned to her as he was just reading a sign posted on one of the brick walls, oblivious to the bloodthirsty woman behind him. Without hesitation, she dropped her bags and lunged forward onto his back and grabbed his head, instantly snapping his neck before he had the chance to push her off. His body fell to the floor as she landed gracefully on his back. She didn't have time to relish on her kill, knowing she needed to move fast before someone saw her. Checking his pockets for anything of value, she came up empty until she looked through his bag. There were a few papers with the details of his mission on the island along with a den den mushi, and a few maps of the islands surrounding Kodachi. A smile made its way to her face. What good luck! These would help her navigate away from the marine ships and give her a head start to the next island. Rummaging deeper into his bag, she took out a folded piece of paper and soon realized what it was. The smile on her face immediately fell. Leaning her back against the wall, Asura stared deeply at the photo in her shaking hands.

Most wanted pictures taken by the government were candid. Most showed the criminal staring off into the distance or in the middle of some battle. But yet hers was different. There was no bounty for her capture. Probably because until now, Asura's existence was completely unknown to anyone in the world but to the people who raised her. And now the government as well, it seemed. In the picture she was staring straight into the camera with lifeless eyes and no hint of a smile like a mug shot they take of you at prison. But she hadn't been so lucky to receive this photo from a prison. No, in fact, this photo was an I.D picture. One that she instantly recognized. It had been taken six years ago when she had just turned eighteen. Back when she was five and first beginning to live with him, Richard had gotten this crazy idea that it would be "amusing" to take a picture of her on her birthday every single year.

_"It's for in case you decide to run away or go missing on me. I'll have a recent photo to hand over to the marines when I send them to come searching for you sweetheart. Isn't that just thoughtful of me?"_

Those were the words he used to say to justify the act. But in the back of her mind she always knew it was some sort of sick fetish of his to watch as she grew up into a woman. To watch the life and hope leave her eyes year after year. Almost as if he was just daring her to try and escape. This photo had been the last one Asura took because _that_ had been the same year she successfully fled his base and never returned. She sure proved him wrong…

Six years. Six years she had been on the run from that man. For six years, he made no move in sending any marines or any of his men after her. What changed? Why the sudden search now? Just what was it that he was planning? And who the **fuck** had told these marines that she was here on Kodachi? Just because he was finally beginning to search for her didn't mean he knew exactly where she was...if he had, Asura was positive it would _not_ have been the marines who had come after her. Which meant that someone else had gotten their hands on her photos and had probably been following her. But who? Surely they would have shown themselves to her by now?

Shaking her head, she figured there was no use in dwelling on any of that information at the moment. She had to muster a plan that would get her off of the island without being noticed - and _fast_. Her departure wasn't scheduled for a couple more days and the only supplies she had purchased so far were two pounds of apples. But she had no choice. There was no way she could go back to the market and risk bumping into any more marines. She had been lucky enough to be able to silently kill this one without warning any more of his companions on who she really was. She wouldn't count on luck being on her side again.

Walking out of the alleyway and blending in with the crowd, Asura made her way back to the eastern side of town and it wasn't long before she reached the outskirts of the woods leading to her tree house. Luckily no one noticed her on the way here, telling her there she hadn't been followed. With a deep breath and clutching her bags tighter, she broke off into an incredibly fast sprint. She took no notice of the tree branches grazing her skin, leaving cuts all over her arms and a few on her face. One branch caught onto her white cotton shirt, but since there was no time to stop, she gave a quick yank that she knew left a small tear in her clothing.

_'Shit. I really liked this shirt.'_

Careful not to trip over any dirt or roots from the trees that surrounded her, it wasn't long before Asura reached the familiar tree that her home was built in. Checking her watch, she smiled to herself for making the usual thirty minute walk back home in a little over ten minutes. She slung the bag of fruit over her shoulder and held on tightly as she climbed her way up the forty feet of wood with just her bare hands and the heels on her feet. To an onlooker, she was sure she resembled a squirrel making their way up a tree, but to her this was just natural instinct. Once inside, she set the bags down on the table and immediately went to pack her luggage.

Folding any clothes that were laying on the ground, she threw them in her suitcase before she grabbed the blankets she slept on and tucked them in as well. Making sure not to miss anything, Asura took a quick glance around the room. There wasn't much to pack to begin with, so gathering her stuff didn't take long at all. Satisfied, she made her way to the living room next. There were files and papers strewn all over the table which she gathered and stacked together and took into her room to place into her chrome briefcase. There was a lot of important information on many people and organizations in those files that Asura couldn't afford to lose. She fished out her briefcase from beneath her clothes and had to check one more thing before setting the files inside.

Beneath all her Beli was another compartment entirely used to stash her weapons. She had two suppressed 40mm Glock 21s that had remained untouched for quite some time. Guns weren't really her style but it never hurt to have extra protection. Next to them was a pile of about twenty daggers that she counted thoroughly before checking on one last item. There wrapped in a purple velvet pouch was her favorite weapon of all. A four inch needle point knife with a blade created from pure diamond. The hilt of it was black with the design of a white dragon engraved into it with eyes that were made of two garnet stones. It was breathtaking and the only one of its kind in the world. She hadn't used it to kill anyone since she was a child. It had been a gift from someone really dear to her...but that was all memories of her past now. None of it mattered anymore...more precisely, _no_ _one_ mattered anymore.

Remembering her time crunch once again, she placed the velvet pouch back in its spot as she made sure everything else was in place before she hid her weapons beneath the stacks of Beli and placed the files on top of it all before closing the case.

Finishing all of her packing swiftly, she figured there was no time to change and that it would probably be best to leave in a disguise anyway.

"I can just change when I'm on my boat and miles away from this horrid island."

Setting the suitcase by the door, she turned around to take one final glance around the treehouse. Not one to cry during moments like these, her lips pulled into a genuine smile.

"Thank you. Thank you for protecting me from the people of this island for two months. Thank you for being another home I can look back on throughout my journey. You...will surely be missed. Goodbye."

Grabbing her stuff, Asura turned to the door and once again descended to the ground below before landing on her own two feet. Instead of running in the direction of the town, she turned around and made her way to the far east coast where a small boat had stayed docked since the first day she arrived on Kodachi.

* * *

 

The entire crew was gathered around the mess deck awaiting the lunch that Jim, their cook, was preparing for them. They were laughing and drinking as everyone was eager and ready to set sail on the next adventure that fate had in store for their crew. Shachi and Penguin were surrounded by fellow engineers and could be found in the center of all the noise, closest to the kitchen door. The rest of the crew was strewn all over the rest of the tables laughing and drinking away with no worries at all.

Law and Bepo were seated in the corner of the room a little further away from the noise, accompanied by the quiet Jean Bart. A few minutes later, Jim entered the room and began serving the crew their lunch for the day: shrimp fettuccine pasta served with a side of some asparagus. Although Jim was no Sanji, Law had to admit that his cooks' food was in fact exquisite and very satisfying, which was something of a rarity among pirate ships these days.

Observing the boisterous attitude of his crew, Law turned to Bepo who sat next to him.

"Bepo how much longer do we have before we set sail?" Bepo tore his gaze away from the shrimp in his hands to glance at his watch.

"Twenty more minutes, Captain."

Law gave a nod and returned his attention back to his plate. He didn't have too much of an appetite at the moment, but he was not one to let his cooks' food go to waste. So as he began to eat, his mind unconsciously wandered back to the strange woman who had continuously occupied his thoughts the night before.

_'It seems as though my luck with fate has come to an end. What a shame. She could have been an exquisite asset to this crew.'_

Bepo glanced at Law and took notice that his captain was being quieter than usual. Even the previous night after they had come home from their little journey, Law had gone straight to his room and had not been seen until this morning when he had come into the Navigation Room to make sure their departure was all set. It was no secret that Law was one who rarely talked during meals and though the rest of the crew wouldn't be able to realize it, as his best friend and first mate, Bepo was quick to know when something was bothering Law.

"Captain?" Law merely responded with an "hmm" and continued to eat his food, not bothering to glance in Bepo's direction.

"U-umm...I just wanted to know if everything was okay with you? You've been really quiet since last night."With this Law glanced in his friend's direction with amused eyes, giving him one of his famous smirks.

"Are you worried about me Bepo?" The bear was about to reply, when his nose picked up a scent not too far away from their submarine. He began to sniff the air, with a look of concern on his face.

"Captain. Someone is coming our way."

Law's smirk instantly turned into frown. Grabbing his nodachi from the bear, he slowly rose from the table to avoid worrying the rest of his crew. His plate now forgotten, he gestured for Bepo to follow him. Noticing that Jean Bart was about to say something as well he whispered,

"Jean Bart-ya, stay here so that we do not alarm the crew. Unless it is a serious problem, there is no need to get everyone involved."

Sitting back down, he simply nodded and returned his attention back to his food.

"Anyone threatening?" Standing up with his captain, Bepo followed Law out of the mess deck and into the halls of the sub and towards the hatch that led them outside.

"No I don't think so. They smell...somewhat familiar. But whoever they are, they're approaching fast." Standing outside on the top deck of the sub, they waited for the mysterious person to appear.

"Which direction are they coming from Bepo?"

"West, Captain."

Setting his gaze on the west of the sub, Law looked into the woods and could faintly make out the figure of someone running in their direction while appearing to be holding onto something large. As they got closer he could make out the figure of a woman, but it didn't seem to be anyone he recognized. Once perfectly in his line of sight he could make out the woman's short blonde hair and even shorter legs, estimating that her height was no more than 5'2. Her clothes were a little torn but the rest of her seemed to be alright. There was a large suitcase and two small bags in her hands and she was running at an incredibly alarming speed towards the beach.

Once out of the woods, she continued to run until she reached the submarine and although Law was completely sure she would run to them, she zoomed past the sub without a single glance and continued on her run completely oblivious of Law and Bepo staring at her. She stopped a few meters away from them and dropped her suitcase and bags onto the sand. She began to frantically look around the beach in search of something.

Law gave his first mate a questionable glance. "Bepo. Are you absolutely positive you smell something familiar about this woman?" Nodding his head, Bepo turned his attention back to the topic of their discussion.

"She...she smells like that strange woman we saw at the bar last night."


	5. You'll Never Escape Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own One Piece, Eiichiro Oda does. Asura is all mine. Enjoy!

Where was it?

She was absolutely positive this was the beach she had docked her ship on when first arriving to the island. So then just where was her fucking boat? When first hearing of the uninhabited east side of Kodachi, she assumed it would be safe to leave the boat tied onto a post made from a thick branch at the beach. It was extremely small and only fit for one person along with some cargo, so Asura figured it would be of no value for any thief that happened to come across the shore. Something like this had never happened on any previous island before.

_'Why now of all fucking times? Why is my boat suddenly missing when a ship of marines just so happens to show up looking for me?'_

"Something's going on here dammit. And I intend to find out what it is."

She glanced around the beach and for the first time, her eyes took notice of the incredibly large yellow submarine that was docked only a few meters away from where she was currently standing. Was she really so out of it that she failed to notice something as obvious as that?

It's design was similar to that of a ship. It had a mast and a large deck to stand on. The side of it had the word "DEATH" written on it accompanied by what she knew to be the Jolly Roger of the Heart Pirates. And standing on that same deck was none other than Trafalgar Law and his friend, the cute polar bear.

_'My my...I didn't expect to see you again so soon, dear doctor.'_

A mischievous smirk instantaneously made its way to her face as she quickly forgot all about her troubles concerning her boat. There was evidently far better ways to get off of the island undetected. With her smirk in place, she grabbed her bags and casually made her way over to stand in front of the submarine.

Looking up, her curious gaze first went to the quiet animal standing protectively by Trafalgar's side. His body language told her he was cautious of her presence, but he didn't seem to hold any hostility towards her. He was merely there to fulfill his duty as subordinate in the case of an altercation breaking out. His captain, however, was a different story. Her gaze shifted to his as she looked deeply into his enticing grey eyes, trying to figure out what he could possibly be thinking at the moment. His eyes were cold, holding no emotion, having long lost the amusement she had seen in them the previous night. She never broke her gaze from Law's as either side was waiting for the other to make a move. After several minutes Asura took it upon herself to initiate the conversation.

"Do my eyes deceive me, or is the notorious Surgeon of Death so generously gracing me with his presence? It is truly a pleasure to see you again, Trafalgar-san."

Law's eyes narrowed at the woman's choice of wording. Had...had she just addressed him as Trafalgar- _san_? What the fuck? And had he heard her correctly? She said 'nice to see you again'...meaning he had met her somewhere before? But where? It was no surprise to him she knew who he was, his face had only been on every front page of the newspapers since him and Strawhat had defeated Doflamingo. However, he couldn't help but sense a feeling of familiarity when she had spoken. Studying her face, he finally took notice of her brown eyes and several scars running across her face. Could this be...? With his left hand now carefully resting on his nodachi, Law looked upon the bizarre woman before him. As if reading his mind, she added,

"Oh! How rude of me! My deepest apologies, you don't know who I am do you? Maybe this will help."

Removing the blonde wig, Asura ripped off the hairnet and shook her head to allow her long black hair to untangle and blow freely in the wind. Meeting the eyes of Law again, she couldn't help but grin at the instantaneous shock that quickly made its way to his face. It was gone as soon as it had come, but for just a moment she had managed to stun the man, and that in itself was a tremendous victory.

It seemed he remembered _exactly_ who she was. What she wasn't expecting, however, was for him to immediately draw his sword from it's sheath. Jumping down from the deck, he moved until he was towering over her short frame with his blade placed directly against her neck.

"Hmmm I see...and just what is it you came here for? Did you think it was wise to reveal yourself to this _notorious_ pirate? Anyone trying to threaten my crew will face the asperity of the captain. Surely you can understand why I must take precautions against you, can't you?"

Sure he wanted this woman on his crew. But he wasn't stupid enough to think that by one meeting, they had a neutral relationship. She was still highly dangerous with unclear intentions and his crew was at the top of his priority list. They had just been reunited. Not even someone as beautiful as her could make him back down now.

Asura couldn't help but stare at him as he stood there before her. God...he was so...so...so fucking fascinating. He was making her blood rush with excitement. How long had it been since someone looked at her like that? With so much confidence and not a shred of fear in their eyes? He had seen what she was capable of last night, and yet here he was challenging her. With her index finger, she pushed the tip of the blade away from her neck and stepped closer to the captain.

"Oh dear. I believe you misunderstood my intentions Trafalgar-san. I am merely here to propose you a deal. One that I think would be in your best interests to consider."

With a smirk, Law took one step closer to her as well. A deal? This was going to be interesting.

"And just what kind of deal are you proposing, my dear?" She took one more step so that she could now slowly glide her hand down his chest, relishing in the feel of the strong muscles underneath his shirt. She could feel him slightly shudder from her touch, making her smirk grow wider. However, she could still feel the presence of his sword behind her neck, ready to slice her head completely off if necessary. She supposed she had to give him credit for being so cautious towards her. She wouldn't have trusted herself either. Turning her head up to look at him, she sighed,

"Well you see...I've apparently lost my means of transportation to the next island. And there are some people here who are looking for me. Judging by the time of their arrival and by the time it takes to get to the beach from town, I would say they're not far from reaching our location-" Cutting her off, he stared deeper into her chestnut eyes.

"And who is after you, might I ask?" Meeting his glare, she figured her answer probably wouldn't sit well with a wanted pirate and the thought of their rotten luck made her chuckle.

"Do you find something amusing?"

"Hey hey Trafalgar-san, you ask a lot of questions you know. But if you must know...the Marines." His body went rigid upon hearing her words and she supposed her guess of the marines being trouble for him were right.

The voice of another person then interrupted both of their thoughts. "Captain, the log pose will be set in two minutes. We're ready to leave when you are." Glancing around she noticed the only people present were Trafalgar, herself, and...the bear...but bears couldn't speak? Right? Then again he was walking around dressed in an orange jumpsuitâ€¦

As the wind blew by, her ears picked up the slight sound of men making their way through the forest and to their location. Meaning the marines were catching up and would be here in less than ten minutes.

"Oi, teddy bear." Bepo's attention turned to Asura with a snarl. Who the hell did she think she was calling a teddy bear?! He was a polar bear!

"I'm not a-!"

"You can hear them can't you?" His eyes widened at her serious and determined stare, making his anger subside as he remembered the things that this woman was capable of. Maybe it would be better to keep his cool with her. With a nod of his head, he quietly whispered to Law to keep the woman from hearing

"She's right Captain. I can hear them...I'm sorry." With his attention back to the woman now, Law had one more question to ask before making up his mind.

"This deal of yours, just what do I gain in return?"

"I was hoping you would ask that Trafalgar-san! I have a great amount of money, you see. If you would be so charitable to allow me passage until the next island, you would be rewarded greatly for your..." She took the moment to run her hand up and down his chest again "...services." She gave him a playful smirk and a wink, hoping he was a pirate who couldn't turn down a hefty sum.

"I am also in possession of a map to the next island, which would surely be helpful to your navigator, would it not?"

Glancing between the girl and his submarine he seemed to be contemplating her offer over in his head. It was true that this made his pursue of her far easier than he had first thought. With her on board, he could surely convince her to join his crew in a matter of time. And at the end of the day, he was a pirate. A pirate that couldn't turn down the offer of a hefty amount of money. Not to mention that his crew's treasury was currently in dire need of a donation after the events from Dressrosa and Zou. However, was he sure her intentions were true? She was a cold-blooded killer who could attack his crew at any given moment. He would have to set some rules and boundaries if she was to travel with them. But in his mind, Law was confident enough to know that if anything were to happen, he would take care of it immediately. He wouldn't hesitate to throw her body overboard if anything happened to his men. After a couple seconds of silence his face turned to stay on hers and he pulled his lips into a smirk yet again.

"You have yourself a deal. Welcome to the submarine of the Heart Pirates, Miss...?" Realizing he didn't yet know her name she extended out a hand for a firm shake, returning his devious smirk.

"Asura. Hano Asura." He took her hand in his and gave it a slow shake, sending a tingling feeling through her fingers to the rest of her body. _'Mmm..it will surely be a pleasure to learn more about this strange man.'_ With her hand still in his, he helped pull her and her bags aboard the deck of their submarine where the bear was still standing, nervously.

"Asura-ya, this is Bepo. My first mate and navigator. He will assist you in getting settled in." She took this as a chance to better study the fascinating and - might she add - adorable creature. If he was Law's first mate, it had to mean he was fully capable of more than just talking, and Asura was interested to learn more about him. His gaze was currently towards the ground and she got the feeling that he was rather shy around new people.

"Why hello Bepo-san. It's an absolute pleasure to formally meet you." Letting her curiosity get the better of her she added, "Do you mind?" Glancing up, he noticed that her hand was hovering over his head and realized she was probably asking if it would be okay to give him a quick pet. Giving her a slight nod, Asura assumed it was okay to continue and lowered her hand until she could feel his incredibly soft and thick fur against her palm. Jesus he was so fluffy and warm! She could feel her inner child squealing with joy at the discovery of such a cute and cuddly animal. When she felt the polar bear let out a soft rumble and nuzzle deeper into her hand, she figured he approved of such contact and probably craved it quite often.

Law watched the exchange between them with an amused gaze and a slight smirk on his face. It seemed that his first mate was going to like Asura just fine. He was positive the rest of the crew would approve of her as well. She was a woman for fucks sake. He knew they couldn't turn away women, much less a beautiful one at that, no matter how psychotic she might be. He was finally content and ready with leaving Kodachi Island as he had obtained what he was yearning for. He began to make his way down the hatch and into the hallway below with Asura and Bepo right behind him.

"Bepo gather Jean Bart-ya and the crew from the mess deck to begin submerging. Asura-ya, you will accompany me to the infirmary. Bepo will meet us there when his work is done to show you around the submarine." This earned him a puzzled look from the girl. She felt perfectly fine. Why did she need to go to the infirmary?

"Why?" He turned to look into her eyes and for once his face didn't hold that striking smirk of his. Instead his eyes were cold and distant once again.

"I don't need to explain myself on my ship. As my passenger, you would be smart to follow my orders." With that he turned around and began walking away. Asura didn't feel the need to question him, so she quietly gave Bepo a friendly wink along with the map she had stolen from the marine, before she gathered her things to follow Law to the infirmary.

* * *

 

He could see her conversing with a tall strange man and what appeared to be a bear in a jumpsuit. He didn't recognize the man nor the insignia on the submarine. For a minute he thought they were her friends or allies but he highly doubted that she would get close enough to anyone to even consider them an "acquaintance ". She then disappeared with them inside the submarine and minutes passed by before it began to slowly descend into the clear ocean water until fully out of sight. Just who was that man and why had she boarded on after him as well? Where were they going?

Tch. Troublesome girl. That wasn't how the plan was supposed to go. No. She was supposed to be stranded on the deserted beach without her fucking pathetic excuse of a boat so that the marines could find and capture her to bring her to him. There wasn't supposed to be anyone else here.

"Just where are you running off to my beloved, Asura? Anywhere you go...you know I'll find you." Glancing through the leaves of the bush he was hiding behind, the only thing that wasn't hidden of his body were his ghostly pale blue eyes. And they were still focused on the spot that the submarine of the Heart Pirates had been just a few moments before.

"I'll find you, sweetheart. No matter what I do."


	6. Boundaries

 

The walk to the infirmary was silent except for the minor creaking noises coming from the ship, although it was _so_ massive that even Asura couldn't really discern where exactly the sounds were coming from. The submarine had one too many spacious hallways and she took it upon herself to try and memorize every route and inch of them that she was able to see. She could never be too sure of what might happen in the future, and if the Heart Pirates ever decided amongst themselves to make an enemy of her...well then...she would doubtlessly be prepared. Especially since she was now stuck like a prisoner underwater.

If Richard taught her anything valuable it was to always stay a step ahead of each person she met. Whether they were an ally or an enemy. _No_ _one_ could be trusted in this world. That was the only way she saw people as anyway. Either her enemy or her ally, if you could even call them that. She didn't have the luxury of being able to keep 'friends' for very long. It wasn't like she wanted to either.

The creaking noises from before grew louder when the submarine suddenly jolted to the side, and as Asura slightly stumbled into the wall next to her, she figured that Bepo had found his crew mates and they had begun to submerge. With that news, she felt a sense of relief wash over her that she had been able to escape the grasp of the marines so easily. But was she finally safe? There could be more waiting for her on the next island so she needed to make sure she was ready with an escape plan just in case.

She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind for the time being and began thinking about the man walking in front of her instead.

Trafalgar Law was truly a mystery in the eyes of the world. For someone with a reputation as ruthless as his, it made her wonder as to why he formed an alliance with the captain of the Strawhat pirates of _all_ people in order to kill that vile piece of shit, Doflamingo. Not that she was complaining of the bastard's death, it just made her think about whether there was more to Law that met the eye. He didn't seem like the team player type. He even allowed her, a complete and utter stranger, to board his ship with no questions asked. Was he stupid enough to trust that easily? Or was he so confident of his own abilities that he didn't even see _her_ as a threat? She usually did not take too kindly to being underestimated, and most people that did never lived to see another day. But she supposed it was just yet another thing to interest her about the man.

He suddenly stopped in front of two large swinging doors with the word 'Infirmary' written in red letters on the wall above them, telling her that they had arrived to their destination. Law pushed open one of the doors and held it open as he gestured for her to step inside.

"After you, Asura-ya." She smirked at him and gave her head a quick bow before entering the infirmary.

"Quite the gentleman you are."

Stepping into the infirmary, Asura's first impression of the room was the intense smell of disinfectants and medicines mixed in with other olfactory chemicals. It was brightly lit and rather cold, but that was to be expected of an infirmary. It was a rather large room with several examination and operating tables lined against the left side. On the wall opposite to the doorway was a large glass cabinet that was locked and filled with different types of common medicines such as aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, antihistamines, cough medicines and more. There was some of the strong stuff as well like Tramadol, Oxycodone, Pethidine, Fentanyl, and who knew whatever else. It was like a candy store for addicts and she found herself gazing at the cabinet for longer than she liked. She turned her gaze to right side of the room where she found expensive operating tools and equipments used for surgery, and figured the metal cabinets around the room were used to store simple things like gauze pads, thermometers, bandages, and whatever else that an infirmary would need. Everything in front of Asura made it clear that he was a rather skilled doctor. No amateur could afford an infirmary such as this one.

From directly behind her he said, "Take a seat on examination table three."

Glancing at the tables Asura saw that they were all numbered and slowly made her way to the intended one. She stayed quiet as she propped herself on the table and waited patiently for whatever business Law had with her. Not tall enough for her feet to reach the floor, she playfully swayed them back and forth as he made his way to the cabinets on the opposite side of the room. He remained silent as he took several things out and set them on the counter.

When he returned she saw he was now wearing gloves and had brought hydrogen peroxide, antibiotic ointment, and bandages back with him. He took a seat in a rolling chair that was placed near the edge of the bed and moved closer so that he was now seated directly in front of her. Even while sitting down, his eyes were level with hers reminding her just how considerable their height difference was. As he prepped his equipment, Asura couldn't help but give a small smile at the focused look on his face.

"You know...I did not think that you would go to such extremes for minor scrapes from a mere tree branch Trafalgar-san." He glanced up at her as he began to moisten cotton balls with the peroxide, reaching for her right arm to begin cleaning the cuts.

"Are you suggesting that I don't take my profession seriously?" She didn't feel a sting of pain from the peroxide, but that was to be expected since these cuts were nothing compared to what she experienced in the past.

"All I'm suggesting is that I don't need your assistance with something so trivial Mister _Doctor_." Her last word was spoken in a teasing manner, but he merely chuckled at her response and continued to work on her cuts before speaking up again.

"I wanted to ask you some questions while we were alone." His sudden statement took her attention away from her arm and back to his face. Before she could ask why he added, "You didn't assume I would allow for you to reside on my ship as a complete stranger did you?"

He stopped working on her arm and took the chance to glance at her, his stupid smirk making its way to his face. This man truly was something else. It was like he knew what she had been thinking on their walk to the infirmary.

' _Incredible_.' She began to chuckle to herself before replying, "No. I guess I did not. Well then ask away Trafalgar-san. _But_ be fair warned, I am a person who truly relishes in their privacy."

He returned her chuckle and made his way back to working on her cuts. "Hm, as am I."

He finished cleaning the cuts on her right arm with the peroxide and switched over to rubbing the ointment slowly over each one of them. She didn't miss the way his eyes meticulously scanned over her older scars on her arms as he did so. As a doctor, she was absolutely certain that because of his curious nature every part of him was itching to know just what had caused such damage to her skin. But unfortunately for him, she wouldn't be so willing to share that information just because he wanted to play twenty-one questions with her.

"How old are you Asura-ya?" She broke out of her daze and turned her attention to see those captivating grey eyes on her once more as he sat there waiting for her to reply.

She closed her eyes and let out a disappointed sigh as she leaned back on her free arm and turned her head towards the ceiling. So he was starting with the boring stuff huh? She assumed he would have jumped straight into the more _personal_ questions. Like about how she was able to slice a man's neck in cold blood the night prior, and kick his severed head around like a mere soccer ball. She kept her eyes closed as she hummed to herself while deep in thought. She then replied in a _deep_ sultry voice,

"If I told you that...I would have to kill you." She opened her eyes with a smirk on her face, leaning her head back down to see that Law's usual smirk was replaced with slight frown as he contemplated if she was being serious or not.

If she _was_ being serious, even with his nodachi still with Bepo, as long as she was in the range of his 'Room' any of the dozens of scalpels in the infirmary would be enough to subdue the woman, of this he was certain.

But as if reading his mind, she began to obnoxiously giggle to herself, breaking Law from his thoughts.

"What's with that somber look? Do not tell me you lack a sense of humor Trafalgar-san? That would truly be a damn shame you know." She sat upright once again with a large grin plastered on her face, her body now a little closer to his. When she received no reply from the annoyed pirate, her grin fell and she turned her attention to somewhere in the room before answering his question with a pout.

"Tch. Twenty-four."

He gave a quick nod of his head and went back to finishing the bandages on her arm. With Bepo making his way back to the infirmary sometime soon, he was pressed for time on his little "interview" which was why he did not appreciate her making a joke out of the situation. He didn't have much time to waste, which was why he jumped straight into his next question.

"Were you born on Kodachi?" Judging from his reaction to her previous answer, she figured Law was an impatient man and probably wasn't too keen on her method of answering. She guessed she would just have to give him boring old answers for the time being.

With another sigh she replied, "No."

He then finished with her right arm and let it go as Asura moved it to her face and took the time to admire his diligent work. The deeper cuts had been bandaged while the less serious ones were left open so the wounds could breathe and heal faster. It wasn't a serious enough injury to truly test his skills but she did find herself grateful to the man, even if he was just doing this to past time as he asked his questions. Law then turned his attention to her left arm with supreme concentration, not once glancing towards her face.

"Where then?"

She thought about the best answer she could give him, without revealing too much about herself...

"Of that I am not fully certain. I have travelled between islands my entire life."

_'At least half of it is true.'_

He stopped working on her arm and gave a questionable glance her way but decided not to pry any further on the subject. He knew from the very start that he would more than likely receive vague answers from her. But Trafalgar Law would not back down from a challenge, no, unfortunately for her he _thrived_ on it.

As he turned back to his work, his next question ultimately caught Asura off guard.

"Do you have any family?"

His words caused her eyes to shoot directly up to his face and subconsciously caused her body to instantly stiffen, except for some minor trembling in her arms and legs.

_'F-family? Did he say FAMILY? Don't make me laugh you fucking bastard. What family would accept someone like me?'_

Keeping her mouth shut and her temper cool, she turned her eyes away from his face before he could see her piercing stare and to the wall behind him as if she was deep in thought, praying that he hadn't noticed the slight movements her body made. But since he was currently holding onto her left arm she couldn't be too sure if he had or not. If he did, he certainly chose to stay quiet about it.

"N-no."

Law noticed the stutter in her answer and how she stiffened like a board as soon as he had asked his question. He also felt her arms slightly trembling in his grasp. Was family that much of a sensitive subject to make even someone as cold and emotionless as her, tremble like a frightened child? Were Asura and himself that much alike, aside from the sadistic need to kill?

With her attention elsewhere he took the time to gaze at her face and couldn't help but notice the several scars that he had been so curious about earlier, but wasn't able to see up close. Now that she was directly in front of him, he could get a much better view to study them fully. They looked to be several years old from what he could discern. The worst one of them all probably being the scar running across her lips. Law studied the skin on each one and figured that, not only was it the worst, but also the oldest as well. It made sense to him why she would want to hide it behind dark colored lipsticks. Every inch of his mind wanted to abuse her with questions about them. He wanted to know how she came to receive every single one. He wanted to explore her entire body to see how many more she was hiding behind those clothes. He wanted to know it all. However he couldn't bring himself to ask her just yet. Suffocating her with questions would only push her away, so he decided to hold off for now. Besides, there were still a few more important things that were unclear to him.

"Why were you running from the marines Asura-ya?" She moved her gaze from the wall and back to his face, her eyes now holding no hint of humor like they had when she first came into his infirmary. They were emotionless and dead like the night before...similar to the exact moments leading up to when she had sliced through the neck of that arrogant pirate. The usual smirk on Law's face was now gone as he too, returned her cold stare. There was no telling what kind of actions this woman would take with a look like that in her eyes.

However her attack never came. Instead she replied in a monotone voice,

"Before I answer that, I would like for you to answer a question for _me_." Raising his eyebrow, he simply nodded his head urging for her to continue.

"What do you feel when you kill someone Trafalgar-san?" His brows furrowed at her question. What did he feel? What on earth was this woman talking about?

"I am not completely sure I understand what you are referring to Asura-ya." She gave out a deep sigh and moved closer to his body once again. She lowered herself so that their faces were a few inches apart. Staring deeply into his eyes with impassive eyes of her own, she continued,

"Do you do it for the power? Do you...do you like to feel in control? Do you lust for that feeling you get when you take someone's life? Or do you simply kill to survive the competitive and dangerous life of a pirate? Tell me Trafalgar Law, What. Do. You. _Feel_?" With her face mere inches from his own, he couldn't help but stare at her with disoriented eyes.

What did he feel? Foolish woman. Didn't she know who he was? He, Trafalgar Law, **relished** in kills. He itched to observe his victims with morbid fascination at their pitiful attempts for escape as he prolonged their deaths. He loved to watch as he tortured them, seeing nothing else but their fear filled eyes and enjoying the agonizing screams that ripped themselves from their throats, piercing his eardrums in the process. He loved to watch that moment of panic flash through their faces when they knew they were merely seconds away from death. To induce pain and terrorize them, it's just something that he yearned for. No. It's something that he _lived_ for. But surely he didn't need to explain that to her. When killing that pirate, the look in her eyes had told Law all he needed to know. That she was just like _him_. So when she asked him that question, he couldn't help from chuckling darkly to himself.

He let go of her arm and stood up from his chair, moving to rest his arms on either side of her with his fingers brushing against her outer thighs. He knew she wouldn't pull away from him. He knew she didn't want to. Even with that cold look in her eyes, her body language told him differently. With his arms now resting on the examination table she was sitting on, he lowered his mouth against her head so that his lips barely brushed against her ear, causing for her body to give off a slight shiver. She could smell the scent of his cologne mixed with his aftershave and as a sexually active woman, she couldn't deny that the smell of it alone made her pussy easily wet.

It also didn't help at all when he began to whisper in her ear with the darkest and huskiest voice she had ever had the miracle of hearing.

"I enjoy watching my victims squirm from complete and utter fright. I inflict pain on them _just_ to see a terrified reaction. To see tears streaming down their faces with terror in their eyes is a moment I anticipate. I crave the moment they plead for mercy and for me to spare their pitiful fucking lives. Having complete control over a helpless fool...it makes me feel _alive_. Every night I fantasize about creating new ways to make another person suffer. So tell me this, isn't that how you feel too, _Asura_ - _ya_?"

Her name coming off of his lips in that cunning voice against her ear instantaneously woke her up from the trance she had just been put in from his actions. The proximity of his body had taken her to another place entirely, her thoughts lost in a deep part of her mind. She didn't know what she had hoped to gain by asking her question. A part of her now wished she hadn't. Because everything he described was something she had felt at a certain point in time as well. He had taken her own words right out of her mouth, and given them a little twist of his own. The newspapers had never displayed just how _sadistic_ he really was. A part of her wanted to grab him by his hair and fuck him in the infirmary for hours on end until their bodies passed out from utter exhaustion. She did not know why but she felt as though she just _had_ to have him. She wanted to be closer to him, not just in body...but in mind. It was different with Law. Most men she met that she was attracted to, ended up at the bottom of a river or buried deep underground. Except this time, she didn't have the instant desire to gouge his eyes out.

No.

No no no.

_'Get those fucking thoughts out of your head you foolish bitch. Do you even understand what you're considering? Are you that much of a slut that you would abandon everything you've worked for just because of one man? Pull yourself together. He won't accept you. No one will accept you. Don't fucking flatter yourself just because you found something pitiful in common with him. After you're done with him, you will kill him. Just like you have the rest.'_

_'He will_ never _accept you. WAKE UP.'_

And just like that, with a blink of her eyes, her moment of weakness was gone. Thankfully her own mind saved her from committing an act that she was sure she would regret. It was just so hard to concentrate properly with the doctor so close to her body. Her mind was right, though. After she was done using Law for his submarine, she would fuck him and kill him just like she did to all of the other handsome men she had come into contact with. What was the point of hiding and running away if there were people alive who knew where you were? And besides, isn't that all men were good for anyway? A good fuck? Something she was sure Trafalgar would be able to give her.

With her hand now on his chest, she gave Law a light push away from her so that he was once again seated on the chair in front of her.

With some humor back in her eyes, she gave him a sly smile and replied in an exasperated tone, "The Marines have taken it upon themselves to stop me from having some fun Trafalgar-san. That is all. _Apparently_ committing murder against innocent citizens is an act punishable by death. Hmm, who knew? They turn their heads another way when a piece of pirate scum is killed, but you slaughter one fucking child and the whole flock of them is out looking for you."

With both of her arms finally cleaned and bandaged, Law's attention was now fully turned to Asura. She had just confessed to killing a child, which meant his initial assumption of her was correct. This woman was no vigilante or bounty hunter. It mattered not whether you were a pirate, a woman, a man, or a child. If you were chosen by her, you would be killed by her. So did that mean she had a specific type of person she liked to kill? Did he, or any of his crewmates meet these hypothetical conditions? How was he to know that she would not touch anyone on his submarine? Law couldn't help but scowl at the thought. Had he made a terrible decision by allowing her aboard?

"Asura-ya, is having you aboard this submarine in any way dangerous to my crew?" He narrowed his eyes and she returned his cold glare with a playful smirk of her own. Once again, she leaned back on her arms this time purposely giving him an excellent view of her generously sized chest. Even while fully covered Law couldn't help but notice their immense size and felt his mind slightly wander to how they would feel in the grip of his hands.

_Fuck_...there he went again. Why was he not able to control his thoughts around this woman? He felt as though he was a young teenager going through the early stages of puberty again. Interrupted from his thoughts by her voice, she said,

"Well that all depends on your definition of dangerous, don't you think Mister Doctor?"

Standing up, Law gathered the extra bandages, peroxide, and ointment and made his way back to the other side of the room again, leaving Asura to watch his backside as he moved away from her. Trafalgar Law walked around with the aura of 'authority' radiating off of his body. With the way that he carried himself, it was no wonder to Asura why he was a praised pirate captain who had his crew following him around aimlessly.

Before she knew it, he was making his way back to stand in front of her, not bothering to sit down on his chair again. This time she noticed that instead of bandages in his hand, he was carrying a small scalpel. A scalpel that, before she could stop it, was making its way to her lower lip to where her old scar was located.

Inching his body closer to hers with his free hand now rested on the examination table next to her, he lowered his face once again so that he could look deeply into her eyes as he pressed the scalpel to her lips. Not hard enough to draw any blood, but enough so that if she made any sudden movements, her lip would be ripped open. If it wasn't for the threatening weapon in his hand, she would have jumped at the sudden deep voice murmuring in her face.

"I will say this once and only once. If you so much as touch a member of my crew in a harmful _or_ a sexual manner, I will peal your skin off with a rusty saw, chop your limbs up one by one, gouge your pretty little eyes out and make a necklace with your bowels. All while still keeping you hopelessly alive. Do I make myself clear Asura-ya?"

He moved his head away to get a better glance at her face to make sure she understood the severity of his threat. He would stop at nothing to protect his men. Especially from a bloodthirsty psychopath like her.

With the scalpel still pressed against her lip, she tried to curl her bottom lip out to form it into a pout. What the hell? He really was no fun when he was this serious. And besides, if she wasn't able to touch his crew how could she satisfy her desire?

Slightly inching her body closer to his this time, she murmured, "Hmmm...I do hope the captain is excluded from such a cruel rule?"

Something about the way she was pouting broke Law out of his cold gaze and brought a cunning smirk to his face, momentarily forgetting that she had not yet agreed to his terms.

"Why? Were you planning on killing the captain?" With the scalpel still settled against her lips, she couldn't help but stare deeply into the eyes of the man that she was currently being threatened by. Since she wasn't really a shy person, she didn't mind holding his immense gaze, not once breaking eye contact. Her full lips curved up into a wicked smile that had Law's gut slightly twist, and took that as the perfect moment to stick her tongue out to give his scalpel a long and _slow_ sensual lick along the bladeless side. In almost a complete whisper she said,

"Hmm...no. But I _was_ planning on seducing you in your quarters in the middle of the night. Maybe fucking you until dawn...depending on how long your body could keep up with me." It was shocking enough to say, that as much as Law wanted to abandon all self control at her confession, he kept his cool while his piercing gaze and smirk did not falter once. He didn't want to humor her in knowing her teasing had taken an unexpected affect on him.

They were suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone entering the room. Law took his eyes away from Asura to see that Bepo had returned from the navigation room. Bepo glanced towards the two to see Law and Asura merely inches away from each other, with a scalpel in Law's hand that was raised towards Asura's face. He could smell some strange tension in the room and he contemplated whether he should leave and return later, but before he could decide, Asura pulled herself away from Law and jumped down from the examination table and towards him. Her demeanor seemed to change from devilish to angelic within a split second of seeing the bear.

"Bepo-san, it is a pleasure to see you again. Would it be any trouble if you assisted me in carrying my luggage while I take care of those bags of apples during our tour?"

That's right...the tour. Bepo had been so worried that he had walked in and interrupted his captain during something important, that he had forgotten why he had come there in the first place. He turned to look at Law who had abandoned his seat next to the table and was currently placing the scalpel where it belonged, all with his back turned towards the two.

"S-sure Asura-chan. Umm...captain, do you need anything else before I go?"

With his back still turned to Bepo, Law made his way to a sink to rinse off his hands. All he gave was a short, "No." and made his way for some paper towels to dry his hands with. Bepo knew not to pry or bother Law any further so he went to grab Asura's suitcase as she stood in front of him and the door with a playful smirk on her face.

"Lead the way Bepo-san." As she held the door open for the bear, she waited before he was out into the hallway before turning towards the doctor one more time.

"Oh and Trafalgar-san?" Law turned to meet her attention as she was following Bepo out of the room. With a playful look in her eyes, she shot him a teasing smile.

"I will agree to your terms concerning your crew. If for any reason you should need my assistance in battle before we reach the next island, then you have my support, if and only if I am able to kill as many men as I like - in _any_ way that I like. That is the only way I am able to suppress my urges to kill and the only way I will not harm your crew."

Her eyes then suddenly went cold and took on a look of emptiness as her voice dropped low and was laced with hint of venom,

"However...if you touch my face again, be it with a weapon or not, I'll make sure you lose those precious hands of yours, Mr. _Doctor_." And with that she slipped out of the room and out of sight before he could answer her.

As Asura and Bepo then made their way away from the infirmary and through the creepy metallic halls, she couldn't help but think about Law and how he hadn't had the chance to respond to her out lash towards him. What would he say during their next meeting? Would he continue to keep her aboard, or kick her off following her threat? It was really all a test to see just what type of man Trafalgar Law was. What would it take to break that calm and collected look on his face? What would it take to wipe that stupidly handsome smirk off of his face? Now that she had begun her little chase, she would stop at nothing to find out.

Turning her attention back to the warm animal by her side she beamed, "So where are we going to see first?"


	7. Remembering Some Important Advice

After leaving Law in the infirmary, Bepo and Asura turned left down another long hallway until they finally reached two swinging doors with the words 'Mess Deck' written above them in the same shade of red as the infirmary. Asura figured that it was probably a recurring pattern on the submarine and that most important rooms were labeled that way.

"This is where the kitchen and cafeteria is. Captain and I are normally only here when food is being served, but many of our crewmates enjoy hanging out or passing time here as well."

Pushing open the doors she followed Bepo inside to see a large dining area with a multitude of tables set around the room. The tables were arranged in a neat order, the same way you would see in cafeterias of elementary schools. There were several portholes along the walls, giving an alluring view of the sea they were currently submerged in. Schools of fish quickly swam by and Asura could have sworn she saw the shadow of a sea king chasing after them. There was one door towards the back of the room that she assumed led to the kitchen and all of the food supply they had on the submarine.

The Mess Deck was empty save for a young man sitting alone at one of the tables across the room with his back facing her and Bepo, with headphones in his ears more thank likely listening to music. There was a much larger and buffer man wiping another table nearby with a piece of cloth and disinfectant. Clearing his throat, Bepo managed to get the attention of the bigger man, while the other stayed oblivious to the other people in the room.

"Hey Jim! Our crew left quite the mess for you after lunch this afternoon. I didn't clean up my plate either...I'm sorry..."

Putting down the cloth and cleaner, the man named Jim made his way over to where the two were standing. He took a quick glance at Asura before turning his attention to Bepo. She took that as her chance to study his face closely. She liked to observe people when they weren't looking. It gave her a better chance to notice any and every detail.

He was a large and muscular man, the type of muscle that stays with a man their entire life…with the right training that is. Possibly from a fighting or marine background, but since he was on a pirate ship the latter didn't seem very likely. He had multiple scars all across his body similar to hers that he, like Asura, had no issue of showing off which made her think the fighting background was the most likely possibility. His hair was as white as snow, confirming her prediction of his old age. And although he had icy blue eyes, Asura was surprised that they didn't produce an urge for her to rip his throat out. His eyes...they were warm and sincere...they were **nothing** like _his_ eyes. In fact, they happened to remind her again of someone she used to dearly care for. Someone who was now pushed into the deepest parts of her mind. Jim's features made Asura feel comfortable and closer to him and she found herself unable to glance away from his face.

"S'alright Bepo no hard feelings. Who's the little lady you got there?" Her previous feelings aside, it wasn't clear whether this man was going to be friendly or not to a stranger, so Asura chose to stay quiet for the time being and allowed for Bepo to answer him instead.

"Ahh this is Asura. Captain has allowed for her to stay with us until we reach the next island. I was just showing her around." This time Bepo turned to her and gave her a cute and comforting smile.

"Asura, this is the cook of our ship Jim. He makes realllly good food." Reaching her hand out, she gave Jim's extended one a quick shake before moving it back to her side. With a slightly less cheery voice than usual, she gave the cook a small smile so that he would think she was a harmless guest upon his Captain's ship. Rather the crew think she was a shy voyager, than a wanted serial killer.

"It's nice to meet you Jim-san. I'm really excit-" Suddenly a second, unfamiliar voice spoke from behind Jim, interrupting Asura in the middle of her sentence.

"BAHAHAHA Jim-san?! That's surely a first! Everyone here calls him 'Geezer' cause he's old as fuck! Ain't that right, old man?" Peeking out from behind the cook was the young man from earlier. His headphones now resting around his neck, it appeared he must have heard a small part of their conversation and taken it upon himself to rudely intervene.

"But hey there sweet stuff, the name's Ren! Pleased to make your acquaintance. Anything you need, don't hesitate to ask me." Resting an arm around Jim's shoulders, he extended the other towards her, giving her a quick wink in the process.

It took Asura a second to notice his hand was extended out for hers and she couldn't help but hold her gaze at the incredibly confident and goofy smile he dawned on his face.

At first glance, Ren's facial features gave away that he was around the age of eighteen or nineteen. He had chestnut brown hair that reminded her of expensive whiskey. It was messy and thick, and long enough to show off his natural waves and curls. His skin was slightly tanned with a few freckles sprinkled on his nose and cheeks that added to his adolescent features. His skin was more than likely a result of the hot sunrays from Kodachi Island. He was tall like Jim was, both probably around 5'8. His body was also lean and muscular, but not too muscular. He seemed to be in good shape, and she deduced that most of the men she met on this crew would be. Nothing about Ren's physical appearance was ultimately striking, until her gaze fell upon the two orbs that were staring right back at hers.

His eyes were the glimmering color of emerald, a green that you would see on a young tree in the forest. Something stirred inside of her then, and she knew her body well enough to know what it was. There was nothing physically wrong with her, of course. No this was all mental. And her mentality was surely questionable at the moment.

Her breathing was becoming ragged and her pupils began to slowly dilate. Her body refused to move a single inch, because if she did she would be on him in less than a second. If she got her hands on him, poor Jim would have to clean much more than food crumbs off of the tables and floor.

Her mind was currently envisioning all of the distinct methods she could use to gash through those addicting eyes of his. There was an ultimate need inside of her begging to wring him by his skinny little neck. She wanted to peel that beautifully tanned skin off of his body inch by inch as she listened to his blood-curdling screams. The entire time she was thinking of this, her eyes never left his now - puzzled ones. Fuck, what would they look like when struck with the _ultimate_ fear of having to face death? Surely she could rid them of that annoying glimmer that was filled with hopes of adventure and naive adolescence. Right as she was about to make a move toward the boy, an annoying voice in the back of her mind halted her in her spot.

_'If you so much as touch a member of my crew in a harmful or a sexual manner, I will peal your skin off with a rusty saw, chop your limbs up one by one, gouge your pretty little eyes out and make a necklace with your bowels. All while still keeping you hopelessly alive. Do I make myself clear Asura-ya?'_

She growled to herself as she remembered the promise she had made to Law. Of course, agreeing to his terms had nothing to do with the threat he had made to her. It wasn't as though she was frightened by the captain, it was just that for the time being she needed to be on good terms with the man. And if that meant restraining herself from attacking one of his crew, well then she would just have to wait it out until she didn't need Law's help anymore. After that, she would gladly slaughter them all...leaving absolutely _no_ survivors.

_'Tch you sure do know how to ruin a girl's fun Trafalgar-san. Unfortunately a promise is a promise...I just hope that no one else on his crew is as alluring as this one...a killer can only suppress their urges for so long you know...'_

Ren was a little taken aback by the immense stare he was receiving from the woman in front of him. She looked at him the same way an owl eyes its prey right before it swoops down to land its kill. He had to admit, it was slightly unnerving and he found himself inching a little bit farther away from her glare. What was up with this chick? She continued to stand there silently and return his perplexed gaze without saying a single word. She made no move to introduce herself to him like she had to Jim. Had he done something wrong?

_'Did Captain seriously think it was a good idea to let some strange ass girl travel with us? What was he thinking?'_

Ren turned to Jim to see if the old man had noticed the woman's strange behavior. If he had, his face sure didn't show it. The cook remained silent and calm as Ren gave his shoulder a quick pat before slowly making his way over to the door.

"Well...uh...this has been...umm...nice? I'm gonna go see if the guys need help in the engineering room. See ya later Geezer thanks for the snack! Stay out of trouble until dinner Bepo." Turning around one last time to steal a glance at the woman, he added, "And uhh...nice meeting you too I guess."

He waited to see if she would finally say something, but when he still received no reply from Asura, he decided it was time to leave and quickly scurried toward the exit of the Mess Deck, pushing through the swinging doors without once glancing back.

Once Ren was gone, there was an awkward silence before Bepo hesitantly turned to Asura. He chose not to comment on her strange behavior since he knew of her capabilities, unlike the rest of the crew did. "Asura...um...would you like to finish seeing the rest of the sub? It might take a while and we want to make it back in time before dinner."

Jim took this as his queue to speak up as well.

"Ahhh...yeah, I was just about to get started on making dinner for you youngins' so give me a few hours and it'll be ready."

Without Ren in the room, her breathing had returned to normal as well as the dilation in her eyes. Her sudden urge to kill something had also weakened enough to continue her tour with Bepo so she gave the bear a quick nod and moved to also follow him out the room. Deciding it would be better to leave her apples with Jim, she handed him the bags and said goodbye as the pair pushed through the swinging doors and walked into the dull hallways once again.

From the Mess Deck, instead of making a right to go to the infirmary, they made their way left once again. They passed many doors and Asura read one as the 'Navigation Room' and further down she saw the 'Engine Room' which was probably the room Ren had disappeared to. Other doors they passed were probably just storage closets or empty rooms since they had no names above them. At the end of the hallway was a lone black door farther away from the rest. And since Bepo stopped right in front of it, she could only assume that this was an important room as well. However, this one wasn't labelled as anything so she could only wonder where the door lead to. Thankfully, Bepo soon helped her confusion.

"This is captain's bedroom! Umm..no one other than the captain is allowed inside unless given his permission. He's a very private person. But if there was ever an emergency, this is probably where you'll find him!"

Asura was diabolically smirking on the inside while keeping a straight face at how naive Bepo could be by showing a complete stranger the location of his captain's bedroom.

_'This crew is just overly confident it seems.'_

Knowing where his bedroom was would be vital information for her last night on the submarine. So for now she memorized the way it took to get here from the infirmary and followed Bepo as he continued down the hall.

They began making their way deeper into the submarine towards what she figured was the tail of the ship. They passed through many corridors, some wide and some small, and Asura couldn't help but think that the layout of the submarine had been perfectly designed so that no stranger could learn their way around without spending at least a month or so aboard. Well...a normal stranger anyway. Unluckily for the Heart Pirates she was not their average stranger. She did shit like this for a living.

They then turned right into the widest hallway she had seen so far with many doors placed on each side. Bepo turned towards Asura and extended his arm out toward the hallway.

"And this is where the crew sleeps! Everyone is given their own room with a private bathroom."

"I see. I believe this is where I will be sleeping as well?" Bepo continued walking and turned to peer at her.

"Yeah! Your room is just at the end of the hall." She nodded her head as they continued down the hallway. He came to a halt when he reached the last door. Before heading inside, he pointed behind him to the wall opposite of her room and toward a large metal door with the words 'Shower Room' written in the same red as the other rooms she had seen.

"Uhh...sorry about this Asura...but uh...you'll also be using the showers that the crew uses. The only person to have a private one is captain."

"It is quite alright Bepo-san. I have no issue with sharing a shower with other men. In fact, I believe it could be amusing to see how the men of your crew react to such a situation." She gave him a quick wink and Bepo chuckled to himself at how peculiar Asura was. Other women would faint at the idea of having to shower with strange men, but it seemed that she was almost jumping at the idea.

Asura had to admit...she was not particularly eager to meet the rest of the crew. From the minute she had stepped foot onto the submarine she had sensed the presence of seventeen more men excluding Law and Bepo. She couldn't feel the presence of any woman on board so her previous assumption of the Heart Pirates had been correct. There were absolutely no women on this crew. Information she would have to formally confirm later on in her files. However, this made it even harder to keep her promise to Law. So far she had met only two members and already she was itching to slaughter one of them. How many more would she meet that would bring out her urges? Controlling herself around one man would be fine. But to control herself around fifteen more? Surely Law would understand if she at least killed one? Maybe that would suppress her cravings for blood until the next island. But just then, Bepo broke her out of her dark thoughts,

"I see. Well let's show you your room okay? Your luggage is starting to get a little heavy."

Turning back towards her bedroom, he unlocked the door with a set of keys and allowed for her to enter first. It was a simple room that was made of the same grey metal as the rest of the ship which didn't really give off a warm and welcoming feeling. There was a full sized bed with a mattress and sheets against the left wall. On the other side was another door which she assumed led to the private bathroom and next to the door was a black medium sized dresser with four drawers. And lastly, on the wall across from her was an average sized porthole with a beautiful view of the sea. It might not have been much for any another person, but for Asura it was more than enough. Hell it was the most she had ever been given in her life and a _small_ part of her slightly felt guilty for the way she had treated the pirate captain.

"I'll allow for you to get comfortable and settled in! Umm I can send someone for you in a few hours when dinner is ready. I'll be in the navigation room if you need anything Asura."

She gave the bear a warm smile. She didn't think she deserved his kindness. Looking down to the healing cuts on her arm and around her new temporary room she couldn't help but think she didn't deserve Laws' either. But it was that thought that made her think back to Richard and something he had told her long ago...

_'People don't do anything out of the goodness of their hearts Asura. They will always want something in return. Remember that. Now go get me some fucking coffee before I slice your fingers off and feed them to the dogs.'_

Tch...leave it to Richard to turn the mood around instantly. He always did have a knack for doing that. But the bastard had been right. All of this kindness was temporary. Law only wanted her money and she only wanted his help to travel. He clearly couldn't have her sleeping in the hallways, so of course she was to be given a room. She didn't need to think anything more of it.

"Asura-chan?" She turned her attention back to the bear that was still in her room and waiting on a reply.

"That's very much alright Bepo-san, I will be able to find the Mess Deck just fine on my own. Thank you once again for the tour and the room." He gave her a toothy grin before closing the door.

"Don't thank me, it was all captain! Thank him next time you see him." And with that he was gone and Asura was finally left alone with just her luggage and her thoughts.

_'Yeah...I'll be sure to do just that.'_


	8. Who The Fuck Are You?

*Knock knock knock*

Law looked up from the medical book he was currently indulged in to the knocking at his bedroom door. He chose to ignore whoever it was, until he heard another faint knock followed by the word "Captain" in a voice he knew all too well. Returning his attention back to his book he sighed,

"Come in."

With that his navigator slowly opened the door to find Law seated at his desk in the corner of his dark room with his legs perched on his table. He was leaning back in the large black leather chair that the crew had gotten him for his twenty fourth birthday.

Law was dressed in his normal spotted jeans and a plain black t-shirt with their jolly roger printed on the front pocket in a vibrant yellow. His hair was ruffled as his infamous hat sat across the room on the furry charcoal colored blanket that lay on his bed. Bepo waited patiently at the door for Law to finish the page he was currently reading, before he flipped the book shut and set it down on his lap. Crossing his arms against his chest, he turned toward the bear with a playful smirk.

"Is our guest accustoming to her new bedroom and shower, Bepo?"

Bepo slightly fidgeted in his spot at the mention of Asura, seeing as how she was the reason he had come to see his captain in the first place. He gently scratched the back of his head, thinking of the best way to tell Law about what was currently on his mind. He figured he shouldn't beat around the bush and just come straight out with it.

"We might have a slight problem, Captain."

Law's smirk instantly turned into a frown as he sat a little straighter at the sight of his friend's discomfort.

"What is it?"

"It..It has to do with Asura...and um...Ren."

Law's frown turned even deeper at the mention of one of his crewmates names. However, he chose to stay silent as he then leaned back into his chair and crossed his arms behind his head, allowing for his friend to continue.

"After we left the infirmary, I...uh took her to the Mess Deck first where we ran into Jim and Ren. Ren wasn't paying attention at first so I just introduced Asura to Jim. She was...she was pretty nice! Kind of quieter than usual I guess but she shook Jim's hand and everything. Then...then Ren shows up...and the air around her just changes, Captain...I can't explain it...but it felt... _evil_...I don't know what happened...I'm sorry."

Law remained quiet as he thought over Bepo's words. _'Evil? Could it be...?'_

"Was anything about her actions similar to what we witnessed last night?"

Thinking it over, Bepo gave Law a quick nod.

"The second she caught sight of Ren her whole body demeanor was just...different...the look in her eyes...it was so cold and emotionless. If looks were enough to kill someone..he'd be dead. Just like that pirate she killed."

"And what was Ren-ya's reaction to her?"

"You know Ren...he was freaked out but he kind of just brushed it off. Left as soon as he could. She didn't say a single word to him. But like I said, with Jim she was fine. It was all just really weird, Captain."

Law let out a frustrated sigh and raised his arm to rest behind his head again while he moved the other to cover his eyes. So...she was interested in Ren was she? From the moment Bepo had mentioned her instant change in demeanor, he knew exactly what was going on with their little mystery guest. Apparently his threat in the infirmary had not been enough. He wasn't surprised though. He figured it would take more than words to convince that woman. Having to come up with a new plan to deal with her made him chuckle to himself, leaving another sinister smirk on his face. This would surely be enjoyable.

"Bepo, return to the navigation room to assist Jean Bart-ya and verify that everything is running smoothly. I will take care of things with Asura-ya, so try not to look so troubled."

Letting out a pleased sigh, Bepo felt the worry that had built up earlier leave his mind. Seeing his captain so calm and cool made him feel a lot better. He always knew he could rely on Law. It made him feel idiotic for worrying so much in the first place. Law would never let anyone hurt his nakama.

Bepo had seen him protect them numerous times in the past. And this situation was no different. He liked Asura...but then again he also barely knew her. And if she was a threat to his nakama, then he would gladly assist in getting rid of her too. Bepo gave his captain a quick salute before heading to the door.

"Yes, Captain!"

With Bepo now gone, Law's mind mulled over new methods that he could use on Asura to make sure there were no more further incidents before they reached the next island. A sadistic smile made it's way to his face as he closed his eyes and got more comfortable in his chair. He would take care of things after dinner. For now, he was going to get some much needed sleep before he could be interrupted again.

* * *

 

Back in her room, Asura figured since she was going to spend some time on the submarine, it wouldn't hurt to unpack a few of her things to make it easier when searching for something, instead of just helplessly digging around in her suitcase. She had been given a dresser, so why not take full advantage of it?

She moved to grab her suitcase and set it on the bed, as she zipped it open and flipped up the top. She began to take out pieces of clothing one by one as she laid them down to be properly folded before she set them in the drawers.

She had a reasonable amount of clothes, as any young woman in her twenties would. Starting from her casual clothes, she had a multitude of tight leggings in various colors. She tended to stay closer to darker colors like black, any shade of grey, navy blue, and the occasional white too. Her t-shirts and tank tops were all in those colors as well. She had learned long ago that vibrant colors would _always_ get you noticed. And being noticed was not something Asura enjoyed very well.

Her more revealing and racy tops were reserved for the nights she would go out to pick new victims. They each matched along with several jeans and shorts, making it easy for her to mix and match clothes to create new outfits. She owned a few jackets, some light and some extremely heavy. Due to the nature of the New World, everyone knew the weather was never predictable. If you weren't at least ready for a snow storm, then you _deserved_ to be frozen to death.

For the nights she went out to find a good fuck, she had a wide variety of different pieces of lingerie; a vast variety of panties in different shapes, fabrics, and colors, garter belts, corsets, teddys, baby dolls, thongs, cheekys, bras and more.

For disguises, she owned a few wigs in several different colors. She had one that was long in length and a nice shade of lavender. Another was red with the hair cut to rest at her shoulders. The blonde one that she had used earlier that day, as well as another long one that was dark emerald in color. She had five pairs of shoes, four of them being heels. The black thigh high boots she wore the previous night, the nude thin strap heels, black stilettos, white stilettos, and a pair of black combat boots for surfaces that were hard to walk on or just casual wear.

Once all of her clothes was laid out onto the bed, she grabbed her chrome briefcase and set that down on the bed as well. Placing everything into the drawers one by one, it only took her about thirty minutes before she realized _all_ of her clothing had been put away. She hadn't expected to unpack everything, but since she had, she figured she might as well just let it be for now. There couldn't be any harm in that.

Pressing her finger to her chrome briefcase, she waited several seconds before hearing the _click_ before opening it. She took out one of her pistols, checking to make sure her magazine was full as she set it down on top of the dresser. Asura also took out several daggers and moved to place them underneath her pillow. She didn't need anything more than that as protection as she closed the briefcase and set it down underneath the left side of the bed, deciding that was the side she was going to sleep on since it was closest to the bedroom door.

Checking her watch, she saw the time now read 5:03 pm. She still had about an hour until dinner was supposed to be ready. She smiled to herself as she decided what she was going to do next.

_'I'm going to go and take a nice long shower. Can't remember the last time I used a shower head instead of the harsh pressure of a waterfall.'_

Moving to the drawers once again, she grabbed a pair of black lacy underwear and socks along with an oversized navy t-shirt and black leggings and set them down on her bed before making her way to the door. Bepo had left a key for her to use, so she figured it was a good idea to lock the door.

Heading to the shower room right across the hall, she peeked in slowly to see if any of the crew was already in there. When she didn't hear the sound of running water she figured it was safe to step inside. Her feet were met with the cold sensation of the black tile floor as she approached the right side of the room to the shelf full of black towels ranging in different sizes. She grabbed a small hair towel and large body towel and made her way to the back of the room which held numerous shower stalls.

Slipping out of her dirty and bloody clothing quickly, she hung them up on hangers nearby before stepping underneath the shower head and closing the glass door of the stall behind her. Turning the dial to warm water immediately, she couldn't help but slightly shiver as soon as the water hit her skin. The pressure had momentarily surprised her, but it wasn't long before she was relishing in the feeling of it running down her body.

It felt fucking amazing! This was much better than the spring she had used last night when she had to wash off the blood of that idiotic man. Her long and thick hair was completely soaked after just a few minutes, sticking to the skin of her back. It wasn't until a few moments had passed by that she remembered she did not have any shampoo or conditioner with her to wash it with. She hadn't exactly planned to escape the grasp of the marines today on a pirate ship with running water. They had been some of the things she wanted to buy today before her plans had been interrupted.

Glancing around the stall, there in one of the corners on the floor lay a single bottle of a male two in one shampoo/conditioner. She figured it would be alright to smell like a man for her short stay and that she would remember to buy some on the next island. She grabbed the bottle and squirted some of the liquid into her hand, before setting it back onto the floor. She rubbed it thoroughly into her long hair and let it set in for several minutes before rinsing it back out. She could practically feel the dirt and salty spring water leave her hair and into the drain below.

Turning behind her, she grabbed some soap from the soap holder and began to lather it throughout all parts of her body, making sure to be careful of the bandages that Law had applied for her. She took her time as she didn't want to miss a single drop of blood and grime that had attached itself onto her skin. She wasn't sure she would get another opportunity to use such a shower for a very long time. She wanted to enjoy the feel of the warm water on her body for just a little bit longer…

Once the water had run icy cold, she turned the dial off and began drying herself. Wrapping her hair in the smaller towel first, she then wrapped the larger towel around her body before grabbing her clothes and leaving the now steamy washroom. No one was in the hallway so she quickly set the key in the lock and turned the door to step inside her room, closing the door after her. The larger towel fell to the floor immediately as she went to put on her bra and thong. Putting on her leggings was a little difficult with her legs still being slightly wet, but after a few tugs and pulls she got them on before putting her socks and shirt on. Grabbing a brush from her suitcase, she moved to the mirror and began brushing her hair out to get rid of any knots that may have formed. It was naturally straight so she figured she could allow for it to air dry for today and ask Bepo if they had any blowdryers when she saw him at dinner.

Once brushed out, she then flopped down on her bed. It was still only 5:45 so she decided to take a quick nap before she had to make her way to the Mess Deck. After the events of today, she hadn't realized how exhausted she was until finally laying down. Her eyes were heavy as she set her head down on the pillow. Asura couldn't help but smile slightly at how unbelievable it felt to have a real pillow underneath her head for once. She didn't have anymore time to enjoy it though, as not a minute later, she was immediately fast asleep.

* * *

 

Asura awoke to the sound of several pairs of feet and muffled voices running down the hallway outside of her door. Was there some sort of emergency? She grabbed for a dagger beneath her pillow when she suddenly remembered she had decided to take a nap before dinner. Glancing at her clock, it read 6:05 pm. Her stomach let out a loud rumbling sound and she clutched it as she made her way to stand up and slip on a pair of boots and head out the door. It seemed her body remembered what time it was too. She made sure to grab one of her daggers and set it in her hair as she pulled it all into a high ponytail, making sure the dagger couldn't be seen.

The voices had quickly died down by the time she was ready and she figured the crew had made their way to the Mess Deck already. It was probably a good idea to allow them to leave first. She didn't want to open the door and be met with several confused stares as to who the hell she was and what she was doing in one of the rooms reserved for future crewmates.

Poking her head out into the hall, she saw it was clear before stepping out and turning to lock the door. Finding her way back to the Mess Deck would be no problem. She took a left at the end of the hall and began to walk as she remembered this was the hallway that Law's bedroom was located in.

Smiling to herself, she wondered if the pirate captain was in there now or if he had made his way to the Mess Deck already.

She soon found herself in front of the two swinging doors that led to her destination. There was a lot of noise coming from the other side, and a part of her wished she had taken Bepo up on his offer to accompany her inside. She really hated awkward situations, and this was bound to be one. But she had to meet the crew sooner or later, so she figured this would be the best way to meet them all at once.

Pushing open one of the doors, she casually made her way inside and stood at the front of the room with a cold and emotionless expression. Some of the men didn't notice her walk in, but the ones that did looked at her with wide eyed expressions. Some moved to get the attentions of the ones still oblivious to the woman standing in their dining hall. She ignored their stares and whispers and caught sight of Bepo immediately. The bear seemed to notice her as well as he stood from the table he was sitting at to make his way over to her.

"I'm surprised you found your way here Asura! I was a little worried when you said you didn't need any help, but now I can see I had nothing to worry about."

She gave the bear a small smirk and moved to lightly poke his chest. "You don't need to worry about me Bepo-san. I am perfectly capable of a lot of things you know."

The bear turned to gesture for her to follow him. "Come on, I want to introduce you to some other members of the crew!"

She followed him back to the table he had previously been at to find there were four men already seated there, two sitting on one side of the table while the other two sat across from them. Bepo set a paw on one of the men's shoulders.

"This is one of our engineers, Penguin."

The one named Penguin was an average sized man who she noticed was wearing the same beige overalls as the rest of the men at the table. The crew's jolly roger was displayed on the chest pocket in black and she wondered why she was just now noticing the hideous uniforms for the first time. The man's short brown hair was covered by a black cap with a yellow brim and red penguin shaped decoration on top, with the word "Penguin" displayed on the front.

_'This man must have a strange fascination with penguins...'_

The cap was a little large and covered his eyes from her view, so she couldn't fully see what they looked like which was probably much safer for him. But by the creepy smile and blush ghosting his cheeks, she figured his eyes were focused on her at the moment. Paying him no mind she turned to see that next to him sat another man of average size.

Bepo then turned to him and said, "This is another engineer, Shachi."

This one had long brown hair that reached his shoulders that was also partially covered by a hat. His hat was blue with a red brim and shaped in a way that reminded her of a killer whale. Unlike his crewmate, this man chose to wear sunglasses instead of using his hat as a cover for his eyes. A part of her was thankful that there would not be a repeat of the events from earlier. But another part of her was also disappointed at the idea. The sleeves of his uniform were folded to his elbows, making it easy for Asura to see some tattoos peeking out onto his forearms.

Sitting across the two animal lovers were men of slightly smaller build, as they seemed to be younger in age as well. The one closest to her was a pale man with curly hair that was a fiery shade of orange, so orange in fact, that it would make the sun itself jealous. It sat atop his head in the form of an afro, and was so big that his eyes were _also_ covered, just like his crewmates'. He was wearing large headphones to cover his ears, while half of his face was covered by a white and red striped scarf. He seemed to keep to himself a lot, and was probably shy because he had not glanced towards Asura once since she had entered the room, which was a rarity in itself.

Bepo then pointed to the man with headphones. "Isamu is also an engineer. He's usually really quiet so don't mind him."

"And last but not least, the kid with blue hair is Haru. He works underneath Penguin and Shachi and helps out in the engineering room too."

Haru's head had been kept down the entire time while he stared at the ground, but at the mention of his name he looked up for a split second and stole a glance at Asura, before quickly turning away before she could get a very good look at him. From what she had seen in that split second, he was also gifted with beautiful dark blue eyes that reminded her of the deepest parts of the sea. They matched his straight dark blue hair and pale skin perfectly.

He was a very handsome young man. It was almost a shame she wasn't allowed to have any sexual relations with the crew members. She would have surely had an _exceptional_ time with him. She was interested to know why he and the ginger had taken no interest in looking at her, when she could feel the animal lovers' eyes boring into her without even looking at them. She wasn't very used to being ignored whenever she stepped into a room.

The man named Penguin then spoke up,

"Hey hey I know you! You're that sexy chick from the tavern last night! What's your name? Are you joining our crew?!"

Standing up he moved to stand before Asura as he took one of her hands in his own. He moved it to his lips to give it a quick kiss but before he could move another inch, a small dagger had made its way to the side of his throat and was currently pushing into his skin near his jugular vein.

"My name is Asura and if you so much as allow for a single drop of your repulsive saliva to touch my skin, you will be dead on the floor within minutes, do you understand,  _Penguin-san_?"

Within seconds the weapons of every Heart Pirate in the room was directed straight towards Asura. Even Shachi, who was usually nervous and shy around women had his katana pointed at her neck. Penguin stood there with a nervous look on his face at the dangerous turn of events. He hadn't meant to cause a commotion...in all of the excitement of having a woman aboard he had momentarily forgotten just what had scared him about her in the first place. He should probably take care of things before Law made his way to the Mess Deck. He didn't want for his captain to kill her over this misunderstanding.

"H-hey now! What's everyone so serious for?" He stole glances at his crewmates around the room and turned to Shachi to give him a goofy smile.

"We-we were just kidding around, r-right Asura-chan? You didn't mean anything you said right? Besides it was my fault for being so rude anyway."

Looking at her now, Penguin gave her a genuine smile that had her instantly surprised. Why was he not angry at her along with the rest of his crew? Here she was, mere seconds away from taking his life...and he was...smiling at her? Not only that, but he was trying to convince his nakama to lower their guard as well? Was he really that naive?

It was no matter. Her point had been made and that was what mattered the most. She did not like to be touched without her consent. Any man that did so, would be punished severely. This man was lucky however, that at that moment, her stomach chose the worst possible time to make a loud rumbling noise reminding her just how hungry and drained she was. She moved the dagger away from his neck and set it back into the base of her ponytail, before stepping away from Penguin and taking a seat next to Shachi. She rested her head onto one of her palms, before cocking her head to side and giving Penguin a playful smirk.

"Of course, Penguin-san."

The Heart Pirates glanced back and forth between the two, before they began to mumble confusingly amongst each other. They didn't know what had just happened, but it seemed the threat from that crazy bitch had been resolved. Many were wondering just who the hell she was, and what she was doing on their submarine. Bepo seemed to know her pretty well but before they could ask him anything, Jim pushed through the kitchen door with plates of food, followed by three other men who were also carrying numerous plates in their hands.

Cheers were heard from the pirates, and they all seemed to slowly forget what had just happened, deciding that at the moment food was much more important. Penguin had chosen to sit next to Haru across the table from Asura, as Bepo took the seat next to her, squeezing her between himself and Shachi.

"Asura-chan...um...about what happened just now-"

Before Bepo could finish, Haru slammed his hands down on the table and quickly stood up from his seat. For the first time since her arrival into the Mess Deck, he looked up from the ground and directly into Asura's eyes with a ferocious stare.

"Tch. First I hear she fucks with Ren and now Penguin too? You got a lot of nerve you stupid bitch. I have no clue why Captain has let you onboard, but know your fucking place among pirates. Threaten another one of us again, and I'll be sure to rip your heart out myself."

Before Asura could retort, Haru spit at the area on the table right in front of her and then turned to walk away. He walked straight past Jim, who was offering him a plate, and aggressively pushed through the swinging doors and stepped into the halls outside. It was at that moment that Law chose to enter into the chaotic hall where a few of his men were already drunk and singing as others quickly devoured the food they had been given. Haru chose to walk past Law without a word and just a quick nod of his head for respect before turning at the corner and disappearing down the hall.

Law walked into the Mess Deck with a confused stare as he scanned the room for his first mate. He immediately found Bepo, and sitting next to him was his troublesome guest.

He could feel a weird tension in the room surrounding Bepo's table, but he figured that it probably had something to do with Asura. Glancing at the woman, he was amused to see that she was already staring at him with her usual cold expression. He gave her a smirk and never broke their eye contact as he made his way to a table on the opposite side of the room from where she was and proceeded to sit down as he waited for Jim to serve him his plate.

At first glance, it would seem that she had made friends with a few members of the crew. But looking closer, you could see that she was not saying a single word to anyone at the table. Even Bepo, who was eagerly trying to get her attention, failed at making any sort of conversation with the girl as she silently ate her food.

When he was finally handed his own food, he moved his attention away from her and focused on the delicious aroma that was sitting in front of him. He didn't care if she felt antisocial or awkward or whatever. If she didn't want to speak to anyone, then he wouldn't stop her. He had told himself he would deal with her after dinner, so that was exactly what he planned to do.

* * *

 

It was nearly an hour later, when the crew was finally done with their dinner and began to empty out of the Mess Deck. Asura was one of the first to leave as she had finished her food quickly and had walked out without a word to anyone, including Bepo. She hadn't even bothered to give Law one last glance before hastily pushing through the doors. When majority of the men had left, Bepo approached Law with a look of concern on his face once again.

"Captain-"

Law held a hand up to his friend to stop him from continuing before flashing him a devilish smile.

"Bepo you don't need to explain anything. I assure you that Asura-ya will be taken care of."

"W-what are you going to do, Captain? Are you going to kill her?"

Standing up to make his way to the door, Law turned around to give his friend a playful wink.

"No Bepo. What I have planned for Miss Asura-ya will be much more satisfying than simply ending her life."

And with that, the pirate captain smoothly made his way into the hallway and began to make his way towards his room, his infamous smirk never leaving his face.


	9. Doctor Heart Stealer

Several hours had passed since the Heart Pirates had finished eating their dinner, and Law found that the halls outside of his bedroom were now fairly quiet as he knew many of his men had retired to their own bedrooms for the rest of the night.

Glancing at the clock on his bedroom wall, it read **2:45** **am** , so he figured now was a better time than any to get things done. He set the book he was reading onto his desk as he proceeded to get up from his chair, grabbing his nodachi from the bed, as he left his room. His movements were barely audible with the help of the plain white socks on his feet, as he shut the door to his bedroom and began to make his way deeper into the halls of his submarine, his massive nodachi rested safely on his right shoulder.

On his way, he passed several members of his crew who had unfortunately taken the night shift for that day. The Heart Pirates switched shifts between day and night evenly, so that everyone received equal amounts of sleep. It was something they had to deal with as a result from traveling on such an enormous submarine. Something of this size could not function properly unless taken care of throughout all hours of the day. They all shouted a "Hey Captain!" before resuming their work, not in the least bit questionable of where Law was headed with his weapon in hand.

As he continued to walk, the hallways grew dimmer and more silent and all that could be heard around him was the slight creaking noises coming from his ship. He walked with one of his hands in the pocket of his black sweatpants, the other supporting the weight of his nodachi on his shoulder. He hoped he wasn't going to need it for what he had planned tonight and that their little guest would easily comply with his demands.

It wasn't long before he came to a stop in front of the familiar average sized metal door. Law was almost positive it would be locked, since she had made such a show of enjoying her privacy in the infirmary earlier that afternoon. Unfortunately for her, a locked door was not enough to keep out someone with his type of power. But before he went in, he found himself thinking of just how he was going to make sure everything went accordingly.

Throughout the evening, he had thought of many different directions that tonight could go, but only one method seemed to repeatedly etch its way into his mind. He had hoped that this particular method could be avoided, as he knew that the woman on the other side of this door was prone to promiscuity. But it seemed that it would be the only way to make sure his plan did not fail.

He figured it was time to get it over with, so with a deep sigh, Law softly muttered under his breath.

" _Room_."

Immediately, he was teleported to the other side of the wall as he stood in front of the door. He made sure to remain absolutely still until his eyes had accustomed to the darkness in the room. Earlier that day on the beach she had shown exceptional hearing, that even leveled Bepo's, so he didn't want to take the chance of her waking up during his moment of slight human weakness.

Once he made sure he could see, he looked to her bed and could make out the shape of her body beneath the covers as her front was facing him and the door. She was laying on her stomach with her long black hair sprawled out across her face and pillow, her left arm cuddled to her face. He could hear the small breaths she took while deep in sleep and Law had to admit he found the sound quite relaxing, knowing this would be the only time he ever witnessed her so peaceful and vulnerable. It was almost a shame he had to wake her up.

"Asura-ya." He called out her name rather loudly, not caring if he gave the girl a heart attack or not.

It only took a second for the dagger to whiz by his head and embed itself into the wall behind him, nearly missing his left ear by millimeters. His face, however, remained stoic and calm as though he had seen it coming.

Asura mumbled some words to herself, before she slowly rose her head from the pillow and glanced around with half-lidded eyes, not yet noticing the man standing in her room. She rose until she was sitting on her knees and moved the support of her body to her arm, using the other one to rub the sleep away from her eyes as they adjusted to the darkness as well. She turned her body to completely face him, with her blanket falling to lay around her hips and allowing her top half to be directly in Law's line of sight. Once she realized just _who_ it was that had the balls to wake her up from her sleep, her lips curled into a devilish smile as she flipped her hair behind her shoulders.

"Oh, my deepest apologies Trafagar-san. I thought you were a ghost." She giggled to herself, not in the slightest bit upset that she had almost thrown a dagger straight through his ear.

His breath quietly hitched in his throat as she lay there, _bare_ in front of him with that cunning smile of hers on her face. It would seem that his new little guest preferred her privacy for a reason. For someone who was on a submarine full of horny men, she seemingly had _no_ problem with sleeping fully nude.

Law found himself wondering just how pleasurable it would be to have her lay in his own bed that way...how good that tight ass of hers would feel pressed against his rock hard cock as he fuc…

Tch. It didn't matter what his hormones were telling him to feel. His ego would not allow her the satisfaction in thinking for a second that she had in anyway surprised him. Which was why he quickly composed himself, and thought of everything else except her voluptuous body. It didn't help that the girl was just laying there with an innocent expression, as if she wasn't aware that she was just casually flashing her tits in his face. He had to count himself lucky that her blanket was obstructing his view from her more _private_ area.

Troublesome ass woman...' _But all the more interesting..._ ' He thought as he looked upon her with a lazy smirk, all the while keeping his demeanor entirely relaxed.

"And here I was optimistic of the fact that we could be civil with one another, Asura-ya."

Before she could question what he was talking about, Law unsheathed his nodachi and with his right hand on the grip, flipped it over so the blade was now facing the floor. He placed the palm of his left hand on his blade before moving the entire sword horizontally around the room. As his eyes scanned the room, a slight light shining from beneath her pillow helped him find _exactly_ what he was looking for.

Clenching his left hand into a tiny fist, he mimicked the motion of pulling back a rope and in an instant the sound of metal clattering on the floor could be heard from directly behind Law.

Asura's eyebrows raised in curiosity at the sound, before she cast a glance behind him to see several of her daggers resting on cold metal floor. A slight sense of panic ran through her body then, as she tried to move her hand underneath her pillow undetected, just to feel that not a _single_ one was left behind. Just how had he done that? His devil fruit really _was_ such an interesting thing, after all. Not much of it's abilities had been documented in her files, and she hadn't gotten the pleasure to learn about it from any books she had previously read, leaving the full potential of his powers a real mystery. So he was even capable of something like this...?

Law took her silence as a chance to slowly move closer to the bed so that his legs were now pressed against the edge of it, the height of it only making his torso and above visible.

The light from the moon above the sea was shining in through the porthole in the bedroom, allowing for Law to see her face more clearly now.

She ran a hand through her dark hair, pushing her chest out more as she chucked to herself before peering up at him with a lustful glint in her eyes, seemingly unfazed by the fact that all of her weapons were now resting several feet away from her.

"While I can understand the reason you needed me unarmed, I find myself questioning what could have possibly brought you to my bedroom so late in the night, Trafalgar-san. I _am_ , however, willing to make an assumption." She gave him a playful wink as she scooted farther away, creating some distance between them, before patting the bed in front of her signaling that she wanted for him to join her.

Showing no change in his expression towards her relentless flirting, Law continued his stoic glare before giving out another deep sigh.

"Only if you were to assume that all it takes is a few, simple, flirtatious remarks to get a man like myself into bed, Asura-ya."

Her smirk did not falter as she continued to gaze at him with her lustful chocolate eyes. She gave out a small laugh as she cocked her head to the side.

"Yet, here you are."

He gave a slight eye roll as he let out a low chuckle, more so for himself than for her. "Yet, here I am."

He looked back down at her and she could see his demeanor was more playful now, his eyes now filled entirely with amusement once again, just like the first time they had laid their eyes on each other. With a smile that would put any woman under a spell, he ushered for her to come closer to him with a finger before whispering to her in a deep, husky tone.

_"Come here."_

The speed of which his voice could so easily plunge her mind into a deep trance was _slightly_ alarming. Never before had she met a pirate, or any man for that matter, that could grab her attention so easily the way that this one could. Which was why she knew she wasn't supposed to go anywhere **near** him. She knew she was supposed to stay on her side of the bed where she still had a bit of distance left between them. Distance meant she was still safe. Distance meant he wouldn't be able to touch her just yet. Distance was a very very good thing.

So just _why the fuck_ was it that she couldn't stop her body from moving closer to such a dangerous man...abandoning her safe spot on the other side of the bed as she sensually crawled closer to Law. Her movements resembled that of a cat that had just set its eyes on its prey and was ready to pounce at any given moment.

Once she reached the edge of the bed, Asura raised herself to stand on her knees, coming to eye level with his neck. She found herself in awe of his hard, lean frame as he stood there still before her. She tried to tear her gaze away from the outline of his magnificent form through the thin white tshirt he was wearing, but found it impossible to. He had already put her in a trance long ago. She couldn't stop now even if she wanted to. Her initial assumption of his lean body when she first saw him had clearly been accurate. The sleeves of his shirt were fit too tight over his muscular arms, but she figured he was probably arrogant enough to like it that way. Parts of his tattoos were peeking out from beneath his shirt, and she yearned to rip the cloth away to fully explore them more.

She ran her nails slowly across his chest, moving her way up until one of her hands had wrapped itself around his neck, while the other was playing with the small tuft of hair on his chin. Her nipples were slightly grazing him across his chest as he could feel them perfectly through the thin material of his shirt. She noticed his body was responding well with hers, as Law made no move to push her away. And if she wasn't lost in a daze of lust, she could have sworn she felt his body moving closer to hers at the feel of her touch.

Unfortunately for her, there was that voice in the back of her mind trying its hardest to make itself heard like it usually did at times like this. It was trying to remind her that Trafalgar Law was not a man that merely partook in one night stands like this. A one night stand with a woman who he had witnessed murder a man in cold blood the previous night. He did not seek out women in their bedrooms at three in the morning just to fuck. Even after all her jokes and teasing, this was the very first time that he had shown any interest in her at all. She wanted to listen to that voice so badly...she wanted to stop her movements and ask him what he was really in her bedroom for. But she couldn't bring herself to tear her hands away from the feel of his warm skin. She couldn't tear herself away from the intoxicating smell of his cologne or from those delicious abs...and most importantly she couldn't tear herself away from his enslaving eyes.

Law had to admit that the small amount of effort it had taken him to cause her to lower her guard was surprising. He had expected more of a fight, and he couldn't decide if he was grateful or disappointed at the fact. It was probably better that she hadn't...he wasn't too keen on waking up his men from their well earned sleep.

If he could be truthful, however, he liked seeing her like this. Bending to his every whim. It was flattering in a way, and there was a brief second when she had slung her arm behind his neck, where even _he_ had forgotten what he was doing here in the first place. The feel of her smooth nipples against his chest sent a shudder through his spine and straight down to his dick, the latter starting to grow harder by the minute and it was getting even harder for him to keep control over his body.

But the image of Ren's face flashed in his mind, and he knew he had to take control of the situation before he did something he did _not_ want to do.

And that was to say fuck it all and give in to his urges. He just hadn't imagined how irritably difficult that would be.

"Trafalgar..." He looked down at the woman before him who was now teasingly running her hands up and down his torso, going a little lower each time she reached his pant line. He used both of his hands to suddenly grab her shoulders, ignoring the shocked look on her face, before roughly pushing her back onto the bed. He wasn't able to enjoy the exceptional view he got of her shaved, pretty, little pink pussy for long, as he wasted no time in allowing for her to recover from the initial shock before he moved onto the bed after her, towering himself over her small frame. Pinning the wrists of her hands that were reaching for him in one of his own, he lowered his body onto hers so that she was now trapped in place with no way to escape his grasp.

Asura looked up to the man hovering several inches from her face with wide eyes and was surprised to see that he was still donning a playful smirk at her. A slight sense of panic had initially come over her when Law had first grabbed and pushed her because she was almost certain that he was going to attack her. But now she could see that he was merely a dominant man who liked to make the first move. Not that she was complaining, of course.

Pressing one of his thighs between her legs, the feel of the rough cotton rubbing against her pussy surprisingly aroused the woman to no end, for a moment distracting her from what he was doing to her. With his free hand, he moved her hair out of her face and lowered his mouth to her neck, licking his lips before kissing her softly on her jugular vein. She stiffened slightly at the sudden contact she felt from his lips, but soon found herself melting at the sensation. Fuck they just felt _too_ good.

He took his time with her as he left short sensual kisses all over the side of her neck, looking for her most sensitive spot. His breath was hot against her skin, warming every inch it touched. The sudden gasp that escaped her lips when he kissed her just below her ear, was enough to tell him he had found it. He pulled his face into a grin before he stuck out his tongue to get a taste of her skin, savoring the delicious aftertaste of copper in his mouth, and enjoying the sound of her rapid breathing against his ears as his tongue continued to lap at the skin, trying to get more of her taste.

_'She's killed so much that even her skin tastes of blood...Unbelievable.'_

It wasn't long before his tongue began to lick harshly across her neck while at the same time sucking the skin of her neck into his mouth. His wet kisses grew more eager with need, while he continuously rubbed his thigh against the lips of her pussy. Her body was trembling at every lick and suck, enjoying his warm breath tickle her ears. It was no surprise to her that she could feel her lips sticking together, a result of how wet he had already gotten her. She would bet 100 Beli that Law's sweatpants were already stained with trails of her precum.

Asura couldn't help the _deep_ groan she let out when he suddenly moved his thigh away to grab her by the waist and roughly shove his dick unashamedly against her at the exact moment he decided to sink his teeth into the most sensitive spot on her neck. She could feel his dick hardening through his sweatpants, and she tried her best to arch her back off the bed to bring their bodies even closer together so she could get a full feel of him against herself. She was surprised at how _big_ he felt, even though she knew he wasn't even fully hard yet. It did nothing to help the delusions that were already circling in her mind at the incredible fuck she was about to have.

Law let out a frustrated growl and bit down even harder on her neck as she tried to wiggle her hands free from his grasp to pull him even closer to herself. It was frustrating the hell out of her that she couldn't return his touches. Oh how she wanted to run her hands all along his body, leaving her own kisses along the way, before making her way lower to take his entire cock in her mouth. Oh the _ways_ she would make him cum.

His teeth released her skin and he moved his tongue to slowly lick over the bite he'd left on her before lapping and sucking harder on the tender area. This earned him another delicious moan from her lips before she let out a low chuckle, the hair on his chin also tickling her skin along the way. Asura suddenly realized how loud her moans had gotten so she bit her lips to bite back any sound from escaping. She really didn't want to have to kill the crew member that came knocking on her door. Law, however, didn't take too kindly of being denied such a luscious sound.

He abruptly stopped his tongue and took his free hand from her waist to wrap it firmly around her small throat, breaking off her intake of air. He raised his head to move his lips mere _millimeters_ from her own, while gazing into her eyes with such wild intensity.

"Open them or I rip them off."

She made no reaction to his threat and continued to hold his intense glare, their proximity suddenly reminding her that he had not kissed her yet. Her gaze then fell to his smooth lips, the skin on them looked so delicate and oh so _moist_. She tried to arch her back off of the bed to close the distance between them, but as if sensing what she wanted to do, Law moved his face farther away from hers, enjoying the look of defeat that crossed her features as the hand around her throat pushed her deeper into the bed.

She gave out a small whine, not in the least disturbed by their position, before she complied to his words and slowly opened her lips, bringing a malicious smirk to his face. She was very compliant it seemed. Good. That's exactly how he needed her.

Law chose that moment to unwrap his fingers from around her neck and push two of them into her mouth, not stopping until they were fully down her throat. Not at all prepared for his sudden attack on her, Law's fingers activated her gag reflex, sending Asura into a fit of coughs. She used all of the strength she had to try to shake the grasp that Law's other hand had on her arms, but it was just no use. Even with all of her power, there was no way someone of 5'2 height weighing 115 pounds could overpower someone who was 6'4 and roughly 190 pounds.

There really were so many disadvantages to being small. His fingers were still lodged uncomfortably down her throat, while his heavy torso began pressing further and further down onto her chest, strengthening her desperate need for air. Even her legs were rendered useless, as his entire body was now laying on top of hers.

However, Law held his ground and didn't allow her to seek comfort just yet. Keeping his face relaxed and cold, he continued to push his fingers even deeper down her throat, not at all bothered by how uncomfortable Asura seemed to be as she continued to cough relentlessly. His playtime with her was now over. And as much as he desired to continue their little game, he knew if he went any further or heard another one of her delicious moans, he would have abandoned all self control. Which was why he had to do this _here_ and _now_.

Asura's eyes began to frantically look around, slightly hoping she was somewhere near a weapon, but soon realized there was nothing around her that could help her against this man. She had been right from the very beginning. If only she had listened to the voice in her head, she wouldn't be in the position she was now. Of course he hadn't come to sleep with her. And after the events of today, she wasn't surprised if he killed her right there and now. Immediately accepting her defeat, she turned to look back into his eyes which had long ago lost the hint of amusement that she was so fond of. Now, he was looking at her as if she was nothing more than worthless trash not even worthy of his time. That was fine though. Asura was not one to beg for her life. If she had lost, then she had lost and there was no way around it. She would not give him the satisfaction in thinking that she was even remotely frightened by him or by death. Which was why she suddenly stopped her frantic movements and did nothing but lay there still beneath him, ignoring the fact her face was beginning to turn a light shade of purple, as she returned his cold glare.

Law removed his fingers from her throat, then, convinced that she had had enough. The little challenging look on her face had just pissed him off. It wasn't fun when your victim didn't squirm from fright. At the removal of his fingers, Asura was instantly sent into a fit of coughs once again as she tried to desperately regain the air in her lungs that she had so wickedly been denied of.

The hand whose fingers had been lodged down her throat began to gently push away the hair that had fallen on her face from her immense coughing. Oh how she wished she could use her arms right now. She would have sliced his fingers off one by fucking one and would have thoroughly enjoyed his ear piercing screams. Hadn't she told him to stay the fuck away from her face?

Law's stare was cold and emotionless as his eyes scanned across her features, not at all bothered by the venomous glare he was receiving from the woman beneath him as his fingers continued to graze her skin. He seemed so out of character, she thought, as he softly caressed her cheeks, wiping away some tears that had also formed at the corner of her eyes as a result of her coughing. Was this man bipolar? Near moments ago he had almost choked her to death, and now here he was fondling her as if she was the most precious thing in the world. From the way he was looking at her, well more from the way he was _observing_ her, she couldn't help but think that this was the closest he would ever get to ever examine her facial scars. Was that the whole reason he was doing this? So he could merely look at her injuries?

She had met many men across her journey on these seas, but not a single one had been given the advantage of touching the skin on her face. She could not begin to imagine how disgusting their rough calloused hands would have felt against her scarred skin, or what kind of horrid memories they would provoke to resurface in her mind. But when his smooth fingers found their way to her jaw, surprisingly Asura's first thought was how soft and baby-like his skin felt against her own, a major positive of being a doctor she concluded.

The way he was making her feel...surprised even her. She had been anticipating the dark images of Richard popping up in her mind, but they had never come. Not once had she thought to the memories of the countless days she had spent lying there beneath his body as he pleasured himself for hours with her own. The memories of how his harsh hands felt across her face, her arms, her stomach, her legs, her...her _everywhere_. The way that Law was caressing her now...it was probably the first time in her life where images like these did not pop up in her mind as a man touched her body.

She was brought out of these thoughts when she felt the motions of his delicate fingers lead to her mouth, and as the tip of his thumb slowly swiped itself across the scar on her bottom lip, for a second Asura believed that he was going to once again finger fuck her throat ruthlessly.

But surprisingly for her, one of his hands continued to tighten the grip it had on both of her arms, as he used the other one to hold her cheeks together to have her complete attention on him. His voice came out in a deep rumble as he then finally spoke up to her, his eyes still considerably dead with emotion as they pierced through her own.

"I seem to remember having a discussion as to what would occur if a single member of my crew was touched or harassed in any way upon your stay here."

At the dark tone in his voice, a slight frown made its way to Asura's face. She opened her mouth to protest, but he immediately cut her off before she could get a sound in.

"Asura-ya, are you aware of the full capabilities of the Ope-Ope fruit?"

Law waited a second to see if she would respond this time, but she merely shook her head 'no' as she allowed for the man to continue, not yet sure whether she could trust her voice at the moment. His mouth curved into a small smirk at the woman's naivety.

"Have you ever held a human heart in your hands?"

This time it was her chance to smile, before she let out a hearty laugh as her mind recollected old memories of her past victims. It was not necessarily in her signature to remove hearts, but she couldn't help the fact that her mind had been quite curious on more than one occasion.

"Yes, I can say that I have held several in my lifetime."

Law released the hand holding her cheeks together, as his pointer finger then began to slowly slide down the middle of her chest, in between her breasts. His touch was sensitive to her skin, and it sent a slight shiver through her as she felt goosebumps begin to rise all over her body. Was it just her, or was it beginning to get colder in the room?

Law was idly running his finger up and down her chest in a slow and lazy manner, seemingly lost in his own thoughts as his gaze then made its way to her chest.

"I see. And these hearts, were they still beating by that point?"

This earned Law a puzzled look from the girl beneath him before she soon realized that he wasn't looking at her anymore to have seen it. So she gave out a big sigh, as she turned her attention to the gray ceiling above them, slightly confused as to what the hell he was rambling on about.

"No, seeing as though their owners had long been dead before I was able to cut through and get my hands on them."

He continued his ministrations along her chest, not bothering to give her a glance as he continued,

"It's possible you know."

Asura turned her attention away from the ceiling to peer down at the heavy man currently sprawled across her small frame, giving her no room to move much more than her head. Before she could say anything, he turned abruptly to look at her with a new glint of excitement in those beautiful grey orbs as he calmly palmed her entire left breast in his hand. Choosing to ignore the fact that the entire thing could fit in only one of his hands, she narrowed her eyes in a questionable glare.

"Do tell, dear doctor, just _what_ is possible?"

...

...

" _Mes_."

...

...

It all happened way too fast for Asura to even remotely know what was going on. She could feel his hand still over her chest, but she suddenly felt her body go limp, as every ounce of her energy was drained away into the atmosphere around them. It was as though an unrelenting exhaustion had taken over her limbs, preventing her from moving.

Her mind was hazy as her brain tried to piece together what had just occurred, unfortunately failing miserably. She could do nothing but lay on the bed with half-lidded eyes as she attempted to keep her consciousness. She felt his weight shift off of her, so she weakly lifted her head up to see that he was now standing at the edge of the bed. He was holding something in his right hand, but her vision was too blurry to tell what it was.

She blinked several times to clear her eyesight and then narrowed her eyes to get a better look at what he was holding.

Looking closely she could tell it was in the shape of a cube. The cube was clear in color and reflective as if it was made of glass, but there was something inside of it...something the size of a fist that was a brownish-pink in color…

...

_'Have you ever held a human heart in your hands?'_

...

Her clouded mind tried to piece together the words that he had spoken to her not even five minutes prior.

...

_'It's possible you know.'_

...

Could...could that be...?

"W-what...have you...d-done?"

It was finally Law's turn to smirk in wicked triumph. _He_ had been the one to wipe that devilish smirk of hers from her beautiful face first. She lay like putty before him, unable to move, and Law could only think of how vulnerable she looked at that moment. There was no trace of the fearless, vicious woman who had so easily captured his attention the night before. There was no rage or malice in her eyes anymore, as they were clouded over with the immense need to sleep.

_'She's fighting to stay awake. Why?'_

He did have to admit that she certainly proved to be stronger than he first initially guessed. He knew that she was obviously _strong_...but just how much had still yet to be seen. During his fight with Smoker on Punk Hazard, the marine had also shown immense strength when Law had removed his heart, maintaining his consciousness; whereas majority of the 100 pirates whose hearts he had stolen several years prior had all passed out.

So it seemed her strength was on par with that of a Vice Admiral. His interest growing with every new discovery, he pulled his lips into a sinister smile as he stared down upon her helpless form.

"I have just collected insurance for the safety of my crew."

Asura gathered the remaining amount of her strength to pick up the upper half of her body as she moved to rest on her elbow, narrowing her eyes at the pirate.

"You... ** _what_**?"

Smile still in place, Law's eyes shined with a new level of excitement before he slightly squeezed the organ that was resting in his palm, earning himself a bloodcurdling scream from Asura that he was sure woke up all of his men that were currently sleeping in the same hallway.

She moved to grasp at her chest, only to feel that a cube shaped hole was now in the place where her heart should be. Asura let out several deep groans and couldn't help but breathe in short gasps as she tried to sort out through the immense discomfort she now felt in her chest. There was a _painful_ burning feeling behind her left breastbone that made her feel as if she was experiencing a severe attack of heartburn. A sudden rush of nausea fell over her then, and she could feel her skin beginning to break out in a cold sweat. The lightheadedness from before was returning tenfold and she was struggling to keep herself perched up on her elbow.

How could she feel _this_ much pain from a mere squeeze of his hand? What the fuck had this man done to her? He needed insurance from her? She had no idea that complete control over her entire body counted as 'insurance' these days. Was this bastard _that_ intent on keeping his men alive? She knew his fucking type. He was just another pirate captain who used the lives of his crew to protect his own. Even now, she knew he didn't take her heart as a way to protect his crew. There was no way one person would go to such extent for other people. She knew he had done all of his for himself. And Trafalgar Law would surely come to regret his actions of that night. She would make sure of it.

But unfortunately for her, Asura's strength decided at that moment that it had finally had enough. The last thing she saw before her head hit the bed, was a smug-looking Law tossing her heart like a ball in his hand, before he turned around to grab his nodachi from against the wall and "Room" himself out of her bedroom.

And then it all went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave comments on what you guys think so far! I'm curious to know. And also, huge thanks to AceOfSpades152, Emeo, and the 2 guests who left me kudos! I really appreciate you taking the time to do that :D


	10. You Will Never Know The Meaning Of Peace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ****I WOULD LIKE TO ISSUE A WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU PROCEED****
> 
> This chapter contains an explicit and probably for most, highly disturbing rape scene between an adult and a very young child. Not gonna lie...I was disgusted while writing it...but it had to be done in order for you guys to understand the depths that this story will be heading to. So please! If you are sensitive to this topic, I would skip the beginning of the chapter that is in italics. But then again...you probably shouldn't be reading my story if you're weak hearted to begin with. I have now done my job of warning you, so on to the chapter!

_"Hnghhh. Hnghhh. Hnghhh…"_

_A pounding headache._

_That is what the insufferable pounding in her head was. She was positive that as long as she kept her eyes closed and didn't move an inch, the pain would surely decrease._

_"Hnghhh. Hnghghhhh. Hnghhghhhh…"_

_Jesus what were those irritating noises? She tried to focus her mind on sleeping her headache away in hopes that they would be gone when she woke again. Slowly, she could hear the sounds fading into the background as her mind grew hazy with sleep, and after a short while she couldn't hear anything anymore. Just when she felt as though she would drift into a deep sleep..._

_"Hnghhh...Hfff...Hfff...Hffff...Hnghhghh…"_

_Growing enraged, she finally decided to open her eyes, but regretted it shortly afterward as she was met with a blinding light that caused her to instantly squint them away. Blinking back the tears forming in her eyes, she opened them once again as they finally focused to the unwanted light above. There, above her, was a ceiling made of dark damp rock with a small hole, allowing sunshine to peep through . All of a sudden, flaming torches sparked to life along the walls, lighting up the tunnel and bathing the entire cavern in a flickering orange glow. It was dank inside, and the only sound other than the one she had woken up to was the sound of dripping water._

_A cave? How the hell did she get here?_

_She noticed then that her body was feeling rather groggy, and as she tried to move her arms, she grimaced at the shooting pain she felt in her shoulders. Looking up, she saw her arms had been chained down to the floor of the cave and when she tried to move her legs, noticed they were equally chained down. Her muscles and bones were stiff, her head the only part of her body she could move._

_Now she had a problem. Where the hell was she and who had taken her? Her memories were rather foggy, and she couldn't quite place where she had been before falling asleep._

_"Hnghhh...Hnghhh...Hfff...Hnghhhghhh...Hnggghh…"_

_Her headache had surprisingly died down in all the commotion of her waking up. Unfortunately, that mean she could hear the noises much more clearly now, sensing they were coming from the left side of her. Turning her head in that direction, her gaze instantly fell upon a rather large man, not even five feet away from her. He was rather heavy, probably around two hundred pounds, and she could roughly tell by his body type he was a man in his late forties._ _Well maybe. She honestly didn't really want nor care to know such details. From her angle she couldn't really see his face anyway, as it was covered by a dark shadow._

_His only visible feature a white sinister smile plastered wide across his face, stretching from ear to ear. It did well to creep her the fuck out._

_She could tell there was someone beneath him, as a chained hand poked its way out from beneath his body. His pants and underwear were around his ankles as he humped the figure, grunting with the same noises that had woken her up, and it didn't take a genius to tell he was fucking some poor woman who was lying flatly beneath his fat ass. He was getting tired, if all of the huffs and breaths he took were anything to go by. Maybe he would soon put the unfortunate woman out of her misery._

_"Hnghhhhh...Hffff...Yeahhh...Hffff...you like that right? Hnghh...Hfff...Hfff...It feels good, right sweetheart?"_

_His voice was deep and hoarse, and she found herself thankful that a nasty voice like that wasn't whispering in **her** ear, and that he was instead busy with the woman beneath him. She blinked several times, the haziness having suddenly returned in her eyesight, before it quickly went away again and with it her thoughts on the man next to her. The sudden changes in her eyesight and hearing had her questioning whether she had been drugged or not. If she had, she wouldn't have been surprised. It's not as if it would be the first time...and oddly enough the more she gazed around, the more familiar all of it seemed to her. As though she had been there before. It was killing her that she couldn't place where she was._

_Her gaze fell back to the figure lying beneath the man. Her curious eyes fell to the hand peeking out, and she couldn't help but think of how small and delicate the woman's hand looked. Her fingernails were rather small and undeveloped compared to that of a full grown woman's, and her skin seemed as soft and flawless as a newborn baby's._

_If she could be honest, the woman had a hand that was similar to that of a child's. But she quickly pushed that sick thought to the back of her mind before she could think about it any further. There were no children in places like these. She figured her and the other woman had more than likely been drugged and kidnapped and sold into a trafficking business and she was just unable to remember. And unluckily, she had decided to wake up just when a disgusting piece of shit thought it would be nice to test out his newly purchased merchandise right next to her._

_The man suddenly shifted and moved his legs to stand back on his knees, grabbing the woman's waist so he could fuck her deeper from his new angle. In and out, in and out his hips went as he thrusted himself into her almost robotically, increasing his speed each time. The woman beneath him made no sudden movements or sounds, and she found herself questioning just how drugged up they had the pitiful thing to the point where she couldn't even let out a single moan._

_She now had a clear view of the woman's face, and she found herself quite curious to see what type of woman they had managed to kidnap and sedate this time. Was she a slut off the streets? A mother with five children? A nursing school student who was just looking forward to her bright future?_

_But when she looked to the face of the woman, she saw no such things. In fact, she did not see any woman at all. It was no woman he was fucking. It was a child. And not just any child..._

_'No...no...no.'_

_Her eyes widened in agony, her heart momentarily breaking for the same little girl who had been plaguing her dreams for months. The child who couldn't have been more than five years old, who was now being forced to give up her womanhood at such a young age to a monster. Her dark black hair was sprawled across her dirty face, shielding her eyes from view. Her clothes were ripped to shreds on the ground beneath her, her youthful body bare for his lecherous eyes to see._ _There was blood dripping from the deep numerous gashes scattered across her body, the skin all around her black and blue from the bruises that were beginning to form. Her small arms and legs were also chained down to the floor, and her_ _body remained utterly still as the older man had his torturous way with her._ _There was blood running down her stomach mixed with sweat, cum, and dirt...a result of his rough ministrations as he held her body in the air at an angle for him to fully enjoy her. She could only guess that his torturous speed was ripping the child's insides apart, never giving her body a chance to stop and take a break._

_As if suddenly sensing her presence, the young child slowly lifted her head to look up to her with the emptiest eyes she had ever seen. Her chocolate eyes were clouded over, having lost the life in them long ago. They were clouded with nothing but darkness now._ _She was alive...that much was evident...but only by the small breaths she took. Everything else about her was dead._

_Not being able to take the look in her eyes anymore, she moved her gaze to the rest of the girl's face, checking for any serious injuries. It was then, that she noticed the child's lips looked to be moving. She was mumbling something._

_"D...t….p"_

_A sudden loud ringing came over her ears, blocking her from hearing anything else that the child said. Was she trying to tell her something? She strained her neck closer to the child's body, fighting the pain in her ears in hopes she would be able to hear her better. Whatever drug it was that was in her system, had really great timing in regards to its side effects. Just what the fuck had they put in her?_

_"Da...t..p"_

_She was getting a little closer now. Her muscles felt so weak that her neck began to cramp up, but she ignored it in hopes of hearing the girl's words._

_"Da...s..sst..oo...p"_

_Her body couldn't take anymore as it reached its limit, her head hanging in shame. She was disappointed that she couldn't free herself to help the young girl. She couldn't just sit there and watch it. She needed to do something. Just like she wished someone had done something for her. But the muscles in her body were completely drained of any strength, an unfortunate result of the unchangeable position her body had been put in for who knew how long._

_"FUCK! Stop!? Stop what damn it? What can I do?! I'm chained too! Don't you see I can't stop anything! I'm sorry...I'm so sorry."_

_"Daa...dd...y...s-sto...p..."_

_She froze in place as her eyes shot to the little girl, a sudden chill raking through her body._

_"What did you just say?"_

_The young girl continued to stare into her eyes as she repeated herself one last time before the man finally reached his limit and groaned loudly as he came into her, not even having the decency to pull out of her. He removed himself from her body, the rest of his cum spilling out of her shortly afterward. The child's body fell to the floor with a small thud, as the old man toppled over her, having seemingly passed out._

_She turned her head away from the gruesome scene, not being able to take anymore. With the ringing mysteriously gone, she didn't miss the girl's last words before their bodies suddenly faded into the darkness, leaving her alone._

_"M-mom...my...h-h-heeelp..."_

_She trembled in her chains, enraged that she had felt so powerless in helping the child. How could she have let that happen? She should have done something! If only she was not so weak. If only she had been born with enough power to be able to break out of simple steel chains. She would have grabbed that man from right off of her, and would have instantly found a dagger to slice off his eye lids. That way he wouldn't have been able to close his eyes as she teared every limb off one by one, saving his vile dick for last. For that, she would probably have shown him mercy. It wouldn't have been kind to just_ _rip it off with her bare hands. Oh no. She would have had to use simple house scissors for that **special**  area. Simple house scissors that a father of a family would obviously own. Oh yes, house scissors would have been lovely. She would find the ones his own daughter used. She was sure he would have thanked her for that. And hopefully if he had not died from lack of blood by then, well then she would have shown him what it felt like to be completely skinned alive starting off with his lower body, before making her way up to his face for last. And if the bastard _still _hadn't died, well then she would have made a mask using the skin of his face for herself and walked around playing dress up with it until the son of a bitch would have lost his complete sanity, only to then die by a shameful heart attack._

_Pent up anger and the urge to kill something was spreading throughout her now, the chains digging into her skin as she used every ounce of her strength to try and break herself free._ _The flames of the lanterns suddenly brightened again, reminding her they were her only company now as she remained restrained to the floor of an unknown cave. Someone else surely had to be here...right? Would anyone hear her and come if she screamed?_

_"OI! OIIIIIII! IS ANYONE THEREEEE?"_

_"HELLOOOOO? HELLO CAN ANYO-"_

_Suddenly, an icy voice spoke out, chilling every muscle in her body and causing her to words to get completely lodged in her throat._

_"Now now...there's no need to shout like that, sweetheart. It's very unladylike."_

_She was terrified to gaze above her, knowing who she would instantly see. She would recognize that voice anywhere. However, that fear didn't stop her head from instinctually looking into the darkness, drawn to the direction of his ironically soothing voice. Not a second later, he walked out into the light, looking as devilishly handsome as ever. He had abandoned his shirt somewhere, every muscle on his sculptured torso and stomach flowing from the light into the darkness. He was really a living work of art, his golden tan skin so tempting to touch. His honey brown hair was in a heaping mess as he had left it gel free, barely reaching above his ears. The thought of raking her fingers through it suddenly crossed her mind, but she soon after mentally punched herself in the face for even thinking of such a vile idea._ _Dressed in nothing but his khaki dress pants, he stalked towards her, every move giving away the strength she knew he possessed. She knew this outfit of his all too well. It was something like a habit of his._

_A sudden flash of unwanted memories of countless nights raced across her mind, and she shut her eyes to try and get them out. She had no time to be thinking of such childish things at the moment._

_When he got closer, she waited for him to immediately crouch down beside her, but instead he chose to walk slowly around her. His icy blue eyes raked over every inch of her body, before coming to stand directly above her. Her, what she just remembered,_ naked _body. There was an odd lightness in his eyes, and a small curve to his full lips, as if there was something terribly funny only he knew about. It was a brief, wicked glance of his eyes she caught that reminded her of what type of man he really was, refusing to get lost in his beauty._ _She tried her best to give him a challenging glare before gathering the courage to speak out with a venomous voice,_

_"Don't you fucking think of touching me you filthy piece of shit."_

_His eyes flashed with anger as he suddenly kicked her in the face so hard she felt a sharp stinging pain right between her eyes, her vision going hazy for a split second. She immediately began to feel her cheek swell up, the taste of copper now unmistakable in her mouth. Turning her head to the side, she spit out the remaining blood so she didn't swallow any of the distasteful liquid._

_Turning her head back to him, her body automatically flinched away from him as he laid himself down over her, no patience in his movements as he took both of her nipples between his fingers and placed a knee between her thighs._

_"Please...Richard...please stop..."_

_He laughed maniacally at her pitiful attempts, at the fear so evident in her voice. Continuing to hold onto one of her nipples between his fingers, he moved his other hand to her pussy and roughly inserted two fingers into her, digging them inside._

_At the feel of his disgusting fingers penetrating her, she gathered the strength she had left to try and pull her arms and legs free, but it was just no use. She was powerless against him. She was **always**  powerless against him. She was his to play with. His to do whatever he wanted with. She had been foolish to hope that running away would mean finally getting away from him, but the leash he had on her would forever remain dominant. How he had managed to drug and kidnap her was an entirely different mystery, but all that mattered that he had her and she needed to do everything in her power to get away. _

_Richard removed his wet fingers from her pussy and cocked his hand back to smash his fist into her stomach, knocking the breath out of her body and putting and end to her thoughts of escaping. She felt her diaphragm collapse under the force that his fist packed. His attacks continued to blow into her, and a sudden rush of nausea took over her. Her head was spinning with dizziness, and she cursed him for tying her down, unable to defend herself._

_His movements stopped then as his hand roughly cupped her face, forcing her head up to look directly into his oceanic eyes that were filled with ultimate fury._

_"Stop. Moving." She weakly nodded her head, petrified by his anger and closed her eyes as his hand let go of her face, forcing her head to hit to floor. He stood back on his knees and began to unzip the zipper on his pants. His already hard cock sprang free and she wasn't in the least surprised that he hadn't been wearing any briefs underneath his pants. Another part of his habit she remembered..._

_As he moved to grab her legs, her eyes widened in panic of what she knew was about to happen. She writhed around in agony and began to scream for him to stop. She tasted salt on her lips, and it was then that she noticed she was crying._

_"Open those legs for me Asura." When she didn't comply with his words, a vein popped out in his forehead as he grabbed her knees and roughly threw her legs as apart as the chains would allow._

_"FUUUCCKKK! NO RICHARD! NO! PLEASE DON'T DO THIS PLEASE STOP!" She screamed in misery at the pain that was shooting through her lower body. The muscles in her legs were burning, and it felt as though the force of his pull had disconnected one of her hip bones from its place. Every part of her was hurting in some way, and it wasn't long before she gave up on trying to escape, allowing for the pain to completely consume her. Her mind entered a state of dissociation as it always did, her body's natural response to help her concentrate her mind on anything else than what he was doing to her._

_Because just like every other time, no one came to save her. No one would ever come to save her. These were words that she had burned into her mind at a very young age. She learned the hard way that everyone was always oblivious to the things right in front of them. So now she was once again a poor helpless soul as Richard took the tip of his dick to her opening and before entering her, wrapped his hand harshly around her throat. He squeezed with enough power to cut off her intake of air, and moved his face closer to hers with excitement and joy in his expression before whispering,_

_"Ready, sweetheart?" And without waiting for an answer from her, roughly pushed himself inside with one hard thrust, the massive size of him ripping her walls apart._

Asura suddenly jolted awake in her bed, her face and body covered completely in glistening sweat. Her bangs were stuck to the skin of her forehead and her heart was pounding in her ears, her breathing heavy as she looked around trying to figure out where she was. A sense of panic came over her as she didn't recognize anything in the room, wondering if Richard really  _had_  gotten a hold of her. But instantly images of the Heart Pirates flashed through her mind all at once, her thoughts going to the events of the previous day.

_'That's right...I'm traveling with Trafalgar Law and the Heart Pirates. He is **not**  here. He was never here. Just all in my head...' _

Glancing down to her body, she realized she was still naked and her gaze instantly fell onto the cube shaped hole in her chest, suddenly remembering  _everything_  that had happened yesterday. That bastard had taken her heart from right under her. Well, in his case, from right over her. For some reason her thoughts went to Richard then, thinking back to how powerless she had felt against him for majority of her life. And now there she was powerless once again against some repugnant pirate. Was that why she had that infuriating dream? Just what the fuck had that been all about? It had been so long since her dreams had disturbed her that way. She suddenly met Trafalgar Law, and had  _two_  back to back? That was no coincidence.

She grabbed her blankets and wrapped them around her entire body, pulling her knees into her chest and setting her head between her knees to take a second to breathe. Her palms felt clammy and warm, her throat suddenly going very dry as her breathe began to shorten. A sense of anxiety was washing over her, her heart beginning to pound faster as her muscles slightly tremored in the position she was in.

_'Weak. I'm always so fucking weak. What is the purpose for this pitiful life of mine? Has my fate been already sealed by the devil? Forever forced to live in turmoil and fear of men who think they can just control me because they have power over me? No, I'll kill you. I'll kill all of you. Anyone who thinks they can control me. All of you will fucking perish by my hand.'_

She raised her head, wiping the tears away from her cheeks as she moved to the dresser to grab some clothes. She was going to get her heart back. Sure, Trafalgar had overpowered her. But he had played very dirty. Using sex as a way to trick her? Stupid man, she wouldn't be so foolish next time to fall for such a thing. Lust would not control her anymore.

Putting on a black sports bra and one of her everyday thongs, she grabbed gray leggings with a simple black tank top and got fully dressed. She decided to leave her hair down for then, but didn't forget to grab some burgundy lipstick, applying it to her lips before gazing at herself in the mirror.

Smiling to herself, she glanced behind her and noticed the sunshine peeping down through her porthole, figuring it was daytime now and that majority of the crew would be awake. She pulled her chrome case from beneath her bed, scanning her fingerprint before it popped open. Grabbing two daggers, she set one into each heel of her boots before pulling on the shoes as well.

She stood up and stepped out of her room, turning to lock the door, before making her way down the hallways.

As she guessed, several crew members were already busy walking around the halls, tending to whatever duties they usually took care of. The men of his crew were strange anyway, so she didn't really pay much attention to what they were doing. Her business was with their detestable captain.

She stole several curious glances at the men who passed her along the hallways for her memory. She had seen two extremely tall men, who were also equally large in size, probably the same as the pirate from the tavern. They both had the same big round nose and small thin lips. One was completely bald, while the other had long beautiful black silky hair that rivaled her own and a small goatee on his chin. Looking closer though, you could easily have told they were identical twins. They were an interesting looking duo. So similar yet also so different. They glanced her way, but showed no emotion as they quickly looked away and passed her without saying a word. They had gazed long enough for her to see they had dark brown eyes, ultimately taking away her initial interest in them.

Making her way closer to Law's bedroom, she passed another crew member who was walking alone this time, his face glued to the book in his hand. He was tall like Law and was wearing circular reading glasses, a shield for the chestnut irises behind them. His hair was a very dark brown, but it went well with his tanned skin. He had a small slender nose, and full pink lips that had her thinking of some  _very_  naughty things she could have used them for. Walking next to her now, she read the title of his book as he passed her, not even noticing her presence.

_' So You Want To Be A Doctor?'_ was written across the cover, and she chuckled to herself at the naive boy who probably idolized his captain enough to be reading such a foolish book. Now that she mentioned it, at first glance, he sort of  _did_  resemble the dark doctor. But looking closer, his looks were nothing when compared to that of Law's. That man was on a level entirely of his own. This man looked like he could be Law's less attractive, sexy brother.

She soon found herself in front of the familiar black door, immediately moving her fist up to knock several times. She patiently waited for several seconds before she got no reply, and continued to tap at his door. Several minutes had gone by, and Asura was fuming now, her patience long gone. Was he ignoring her? Enjoying the torment that she was going through with her heart gone? He was probably sitting in his bedroom smirking to himself, knowing damn well who would be knocking at his door so impatiently.

She was about to knock again, when someone shifted behind her and she turned around to see a rather large man with a very angry looking face. His size surely surpassed that of the two men she had seen earlier, one of his arms equally the length of her entire body. There were red flame shaped tattoos on his forehead and a scar similar to her own running above his eye. He had very large sideburns protruding from his cheeks, while his long hair was tied in a ponytail behind his back. Asura moved a little farther away from the intimidating glare he was giving her, not entirely sure why he was giving her such a look.

Finally finding her voice, she frowned at him and said, "I was looking for Trafalgar-san. Would you happen to know where he is?"

Jean Bart eyed the woman up and down, while he contemplated whether he should give the whereabouts of his captain away to a stranger. He didn't really know too much about her. Only that she had returned with Law and Bepo after they had left in the middle of lunch the previous afternoon. From what he could remember, Bepo had looked quite concerned when alerting his captain that someone was approaching their sub. Was this who he had been talking about? If so, was she dangerous? Surely his captain would have alerted the crew by now if she was. Also, he knew his captain would easily be able to take care of himself either way. So he figured telling her what she wanted to know would probably be harmless.

"He's in the training room on the floor beneath this one."

She raised a curious eyebrow at the information, not having been told of such a room, nonetheless shown where this supposed training room even was. Jean Bart sensed the confusion on her face, and pointed behind him further down into the hall, opposite of the way she had come.

"One of the doors on your left will have a yellow 'X' marked on it. Leads to the stairway that heads down to the room. You'll find captain there."

She nodded her head and began to make her way past the man, before stopping next to him and extending her hand out.

"Asura Hano. I am grateful of your assistance." He gave a quick glance to her extended hand, before returning her gesture, gently grasping her small hand in his own.

"Jean Bart."

She gave him a quick smirk, before letting go and resuming to move past him and further down the hall. She gave him a small wave and shouted over her shoulder,

"Pleasure to meet you Jean-Bart-san!"

He continued to curiously watch the strange woman as she made her way down the hall, before finding the marked door and stepping inside, disappearing behind the walls. He sighed and turned around to make his way to the navigation room, Bepo probably wondering where the hell he was.

* * *

Asura found herself walking down a flight of metal stairs, several lights placed along the walls around her to help guide her way down the dark path. A clicking sound from the heel of her boots was the only thing she could hear as she made her way lower down the stairs, finally finding herself on what she assumed to be the lower floor.

There was nothing else on the floor but a large wall in front of her, with a reddish wooden door placed in the middle that seemed rather oddly out of place surrounded by grey metallic walls. There was a single circular glass window on the middle of the door, and she was thankfully tall enough to  _barely_  see through.

Peeking through, her curious eyes instantly fell onto the man she was looking for who was standing in the middle of a very large room, surrounded by dozens of practice dummies. Dressed in nothing but black sweat pants, his sheathed nodachi was held in front of him in a fighting stance. His shirt was discarded on the floor and she could see that he had been in there training for quite some time, the sweat practically dripping from his body.

His coal black hair was soaking wet and stuck to the skin of his forehead, perspiration making its way to his luscious lips that were pursed with determination at his task. Beads of sweat were falling down his chiseled abs that were moving up and down with each tired breath he took. Even after all that he had done to her, she still undeniably and unashamedly found the fucking bastard attractive. Even in pure hatred, Asura could be mature enough to admit when she found her enemies enticing, and Trafalgar Law was truly the definition of an enticing man. The lean and muscular frame of his exposed body took her thoughts to the previous night when it had been pressed up against her own. If only he hadn't been so foolish to pull such a devilish stunt, she knew she would have thoroughly enjoyed spending a night with the man. It was then that she suddenly took notice of the ridiculously  _large_  amount of tattoos marked across his beautifully tanned skin.

She had already been aware of the words 'DEATH' written across the back of his fingers and the questionable black crosses on the back of both of his hands. She really hadn't taken Law to be a god-fearing man, but had decided not to question it any further seeing as it wasn't any of her business. But now she could see there were far more tattoos inked across his body, the line work and intricate designs spiking her innocent curiosity. There was a set of tribal looking circles with another random shape in the middle on each arm, and a  _large_  tribal heart with his infamous Jolly Roger in the middle of it. His chest piece stretched to his shoulders, where she could see the outline of a simple but still beautiful heart design on each one.

Asura had always been interested in tattoos. The idea had once crossed her mind when she was younger to get some of her own. Maybe to cover up some of the numerous scars she had on her arms, legs, back and even stomach. She always believed they were so repulsive, these marks on her skin. Scars that would forever remind her of who she belonged to.

_'Cool it, Asura. You. do. **not**. belong to him anymore. Do you understand? You are free. You may live and kill as you wish. No one will ever hold you back again.'_

She quickly pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind, having long ago learned to listen to the voices in her head and love her scars for what they  _really_ were. The reminder that she would never allow herself to feel powerless again. Which brought her dark thoughts back to the man in front of her. The man who had made her feel all these shaky emotions in the first place.  _He_  was the one who had stolen her heart from her, putting such helpless thoughts in her mind. The one responsible for putting her in such a pitiful state of unworthiness.

She watched as he swung his sword at the dummies in different directions, coming from left, right, down, and up all in repetitions of a thousand. Once he was done with all of those different angles, he slipped a massive weight onto his sword, before repeating his earlier steps once again. He landed blow after blow on the dummies, some of them taking excessive damage even though his sword was sheathed, but for her it didn't seem as though he was using his full strength. His body was visibly tired, and she could even see it in his face. But still, she hadn't taken Trafalgar for someone who half-assed their training.

She eyed his movements more closely, as he added weight after weight, until he couldn't add anymore. She was certain now that something was off with his form. She was highly trained in weapons and in training with them. She had easily come to learn how to spot an enemy's weaknesses after just several minutes of observing them. And now she had just figured out Trafalgar Law's weakness.

His right arm.

There was something about the way he was gripping his sword that showed he was favoring his left arm over his right. The amount of damage the dummies were taking from each arm were also something to go by. The dummies would get blown to pieces with every blow he landed using his left arm. Whereas when attempting to use his other arm, he would slightly hesitate, causing the damage to be less excessive.

Her lips curved into a wicked grin, before she grabbed the door handle and slipped inside to stand against the wall. She would be quiet for now. Asura wasn't one to disturb someone else's training. As if completely not noticing her presence, Law continued to swing his sword around until eventually coming to a stop. He removed the weights from his sword and turned around, showing another large tattoo of his Jolly Roger on his back. She watched the way his muscles contracted as he moved to set them back onto the racks that stood across the room from where she stood. This was the first time Asura noticed the room she was in, remembering that Bepo had in fact left it out from his little tour.

The room was massive, something you immediately noticed when stepping in. The ceiling was high and covered with numerous bright lights, while the wall to the left was covered completely by a single colossal mirror. On the side of the room across from her where Law was standing stood several racks of weights and dumbbells in all sizes, lined up against the wall. Looking to her right, she found numerous weapons of distinct shape, size, material, and purpose hung across the wall in perfectly aligned rows. There were hundreds of practice dummies placed in one of the corners of the room, easy access for anyone who needed one. They didn't look too expensive to replace anyway. The floor of the room was initially made of wood, but had been covered by black mats for what she assumed was to decrease the chance of serious injury during training.

Law turned around from the weight rack and made his way to his shirt, picking it up from the floor and with it the small towel that had been hidden underneath. He wiped the sweat from his face, before wiping his forehead and draping the towel over his head. Finally turning his head her way, he moved to stand towards her, leaning his weight onto his sword. Looking at her with a bored expression, he calmly stated,

"I was beginning to wonder when you were going to finish spying on me through that meager window, Asura-ya."

She cocked her head to the side, no hint of amusement on her face.

"Interrupting someone's training is very rude, Trafalgar-san. Even I know that." Before he could say anything she turned around to lock the door behind her. She stalked closer to him now, eyeing the man malevolently, disgusted at the very presence of him.

"You know, there are certainly  _far_  more easier ways to stealing a woman's heart. You sure do take the saying of 'he ripped my heart out of my chest' to an entirely new level."

Law kept his demeanor cool and relaxed as she made her way to stand in front of him, her words blunt and straight to the point of why she was there. He felt a small smirk forming on his lips at her deviance, that even in such a situation she refused to back down.

"As proper as that is, you are no easy woman to deal with." She moved her gaze to his body then, suddenly uninterested at their conversation. She moved to slowly stalk around him, a finger moving to trace the lines of the tattoo located on his right shoulder. He stood his ground, and allowed for her to continue her touch, confident that she wouldn't try anything. Asura took note of a what seemed to be a recently healed scar on his upper arm that circled completely around his bicep. Had his entire arm been stitched back together? She could feel her inner urges smiling with glee that she had been right.

Walking around him now, her finger continued to trace along his skin before finally coming to stand back in front of him again. She traced the Jolly Roger on his chest, intrigued by what had brought such a design into his mind as the choice to represent his crew. There was certainly a story behind it, she assumed.

"Does something interest you, Asura-ya?"

Her gazed flicked to Law to see he was looking at her with an emotionless expression once again. She pouted and removed her finger from his skin. Crossing her arms across her chest, she pointed to his arm.

"I'm interested in hearing the story of what caused such an injury to that arm of yours."

He narrowed his eyes at her perception, his mind immediately curious as to how she could have guessed something like that by just watching him for several minutes. However, he refused to indulge himself in her games, let alone give her the upper hand.

"What makes you think there is anything wrong with my arm?" She crossed her arms again, giving him a lazy grin but making sure he didn't miss the quick spark of mischief that flashed across her eyes.

"You looked to be in so much fucking pain against those mere practice dolls, favoring your left arm more than your right. Not to mention the fact there is a perfectly aligned scar running around your entire bicep as if your arm had been sliced clean off. Do tell, Mr. Surgeon of Death, what happened to you?"

Asura was shamefully smiling now, delighted at the idea of Law having to go through such an excruciating amount of pain. She was just disappointed that she hadn't been the one to hack his arm off. It was quite obvious that was what had happened. But it wasn't enough to just merely bring up the subject of a battle he clearly lost. She wanted to hear him say it through his very own lips. To hear that, he too, had been powerless at some point in his pitiful life. To the point that he lost a part of his  _own_  body.

"Asura-ya, it is clear that your mind has confused fiction with reality. Not that it is your business, but this scar was a result of an accident during training, and I can assure you it has caused no issue in my  _power._ You went through quite a trauma last night. It hasn't been two hours since you have woken up so it's only natural that you would not be at your best."

Law was leaning lazily onto his nodachi, an entirely bored expression crossed over his face, trying to get her attention away from the topic of their conversation. A surge of anger ran through Asura as he just calmly stood there and watched her, entirely nonchalant to the fact that her heart was still in his possession. He had taken great pleasure it seemed in making her feel fragile. Well, then she would just have to return the favor.

If he didn't want to admit to his weakness then that was fine. She would just have to push it out of him.

"Did you think that I would not notice you chose to surface on a shore as far away from other pirates as possible on Kodachi? Or how your entire body went rigid when I mentioned the marines were after me? Initially I had thought nothing of it, but is it that you were actually  _afraid,_ Trafalgar-san? Are you too fucking weak to even handle small maggots such as the marines?"

Law didn't move an inch or break his gaze from the woman in front of him. Asura chose that moment to stand even closer to him, her face several inches away from his chest once again, reminding her just how grand their height difference was. Looking up, she didn't let it bother her as her smile grew wider, the thought of pushing this man to his limits enticing her very core. Just a little more. She was sure of it, if his ultimate silence and deathly glare was anything to go by.

"Oh my, a disturbing thought just crossed my mind. By any chance, have you spoken with your crew about your issue?"

Law attempted to keep his seething anger hidden, the accuracy of her accusations turning screws in his mind, trying to piece how she could have noticed something in the first place. Not even Bepo, his first mate and ultimately best friend, had noticed the slight decrease in his abilities or that he wasn't carrying his nodachi himself as much anymore. And if Bepo hadn't noticed, then he already knew that his other crewmates had not either. That was not to even remotely say that he thought of them as mindless or dumb, just that he knew his men and knew they didn't really tend to focus too much on detail. Remembering the woman in front of him, he spoke out in a hoarse voice, keeping his anger under control.

"As I just stated to you, Asura-ya, there is  _nothing_  for them to know."

He obviously didn't try hard enough as there was a slight hint of anger in his voice, and Law cursed himself for allowing any sort of emotion to show in front of a woman who used them to manipulate things in her favor. Her wide grin never leaving her face, Asura knew that she almost had him now.

"Your crew is not aware of this."

It was more of a statement than a question, and Law let her words hang in the air as he thought what his crew would do or say if they found out that even for a second, that their captain was not entirely ready to continue their journey into the more dangerous parts of the New World. Asura took his silence as a definite yes, her grin growing malicious with every second that passed by.

She turned around from Law then, her back facing him as she wandered around the wide room, her gaze taking the entire place in. And as though it were usual routine, she broke out into a series of round offs, backflips, cartwheels, back handsprings, and more moves that would have won her the Olympics. Law watched her with a puzzled look, wondering to himself just what the hell she was doing. When she finally came to a stop, she was not far from him again as she laid on the floor and watched the ceiling above her.

"Ahhhh, that was a wonderful warm up! I haven't been able to move around like that in such a long time. The floor of a forest is so uncomfortable on my hands."

She stood then, walking to him to grab the towel that was on his head and used it to wipe her own sweat that had formed from her minor workout. She wiped her face first, then moved to her shoulders and neck, and lastly moved the towel between the valley of her breasts. She had her gaze on Law as his was currently on the area of her body that the towel was drying. She gave a small smirk as she finished and tossed the towel at his face, turning around to walk to the door before he had a chance to yank it off.

"Where do you think you're going, Asura-ya?"

Stopping in her spot, she brushed her hair behind her shoulder as she turned her head around to the man who was walking closer to her now, an irritated scowl ruining the perfect features on his face.

She gave him a quick wink and a peace sign before giggling out,

"Why, to slaughter your crew of course!"

Law froze in his place and his eyes widened at the audacity of this woman, her words haven taken him slightly aback. Was she fucking serious? How far did she think she was going to get, with her heart in his possession? One crush of his fist and her organ would be reduced to ash, that stupidly beautiful smirk of hers never crossing her face again. And strangely, that idea of not seeing it again, slightly had him feeling uneasy. He wasn't very fond of those thoughts crossing his mind either.

Asura turned her body around to face him and continued on, not bothering to wait for Law to reply to her declaration.

"Since you're so weak that you even avoid the marines, I'll take it upon myself to massacre your crew here and now. Maybe if I gave them your head, they would forget about mine, don't you think?"

Asura was chuckling maniacally to herself now, because she hadn't expected that even speaking about it would bring her the urge to murder all of them  _now_. She had really just been teasing the man, but the very thoughts of collecting Ren, Haru, and even  _Law's_  eyes were sending a tingling feeling throughout her entire body. She was lusting for the feel of blood on her skin, to hear their piercing screams. Fuck her pussy was growing wet just even thinking about it. Law stood completely silent in front of her as she continued rambling on.

"Mhmm, I wonder who I would begin with, Trafalgar-saaan." With a flash of excitement in her eyes, she clapped her hands together as a low moan escaped from her dark luscious lips. "Ohhhh I know! I'm going to start off with that insufferable pet of yours."

"Fuuuck..I've been itching to see what kind of face he would make when facing death, from the very moment he opened his troublesome little mouth."

Law's eyes narrowed darkly at the woman, immediately unsheathing his nodachi to rest it on his side, ready at any moment to take her down. He  _really_  didn't take too kindly to anyone threatening his best friend. But she chose to ignore his deathly aura, Asura too far gone in her daze of lust and desire to pay him any mind.

"You know, from the very moment I met that hideous teddy bear, the pure and utter stench of naivety and optimism rolling off of his body has been suffocating me to death. I want, no I  _need,_  to put an end to that light inside of him. To the hope in his mind that he could ever live amongst humans normally, that they would care for him like his own family. It's quite embarrassing, really."

She didn't stop there however, once again too far gone in her own twisted mind to think about the things she was saying to the captain who's submarine she was currently traveling on. The same man who currently held her most vital organ in his possession. None of that mattered to her, as the image of Bepo's beautiful soft white fur being tainted in a magnificent deep red being the only thing she could currently think about.

"Yes, I am positive now that Bepo will be my first victim. How can you stand being around him Trafalgar-san? Everytime he opens his foul mouth, I want to wring my arms around his entire throat and shut him up permanently."

Law began to walk closer to her, all the while keeping his weapon ready in hand.

"So I can assume that all of your little 'Bepo-san's' and kind gestures like petting him were all a ruse?"

She looked at him then, like  _really_  looked at him. The way his eyes were dilated with immense rage, the knuckles on his hand that were gripping his weapon turning white. His emotions were raw and vulnerable, and Asura finally noticed that Trafalgar Law was really  _pissed._ She knew his rage went far past pissed, but her grin widened in victory, finally having removed the infuriating smirk from his handsome face. She could only imagine how much restraint it was taking for him to not come across the room and slit her throat.

"But of course, my dear. Someone like him who has never faced  **true** pain or sadness, it enrages me. See, people like you and I, we do not become this way growing up with a white picket fence home and a large happy family. People like you and I, Trafalgar-kun, we have faced the ultimate tragedies that this world has to offer. So the fact that he faithfully follows you around like a dog, as goes for all of your crewmates, it absolutely disgusts me. They allow for themselves to be used and tossed by a second-rate pirate who wanted to play pretend and give up their choice to live their life freely."

Her grin faltered, as she looked at him more seriously now. "Why anyone would choose to give up their freedom is a question I will never come to terms with. What, they follow you because they love you? Is that what you think? Or is it that they follow you because they think you love  _them_? Jesus, you bunch really are embarrassing. Don't...don't tell me you actually care for them?"

She bent over with laughter, holding her stomach as her giggles grew louder and louder until she was almost at the point of crying. Settling down, she wiped a small tear from her eye and crossed her arms across her chest, shaking her head back and forth.

"That's a shame. The infamous Surgeon of Death has a soft spot for his friends, huh? I wish I could keep you alive so that you could witness as I killed them all, but my parting gift to you is showing you mercy among your very last minutes alive."

Her body was suddenly thrown back as the weight of Law's body crashed against hers. Her back was thrown against the wall behind her, momentarily knocking the breath out of her. The blade of his nodachi was placed at her throat as his other hand was roughly squeezing her cheeks together, making sure her attention was on him. His grey eyes were clouded over with fury, his jaws clenching as he harshly spit out his next words.

"Fight me."

She furrowed her brows in confusion at his request, not sure what he was planning by that. He let go of her face so she could bark out,

"Excuse me?"

Law didn't miss a beat as he hunched down to lean his face into hers, for the first time noticing small and honestly barely noticeable freckles scattered on her face. The deep scar that ran across her nose and cheeks did well to cover most of them up, but he could still make out a couple of them sprinkled on her skin. Just gazing at the features across her face, from her big chocolate eyes, to her full and smooth lips, Law couldn't help but feel some of his initial rage fading away as the beautiful woman in front of him was giving him a puzzled look.

He moved to touch their noses together, hearing the quick hitch of her breath as she probably thought he was leaning in to kiss her. And as much as he really,  _really_  wanted to, Law just knew that he couldn't do it. Refusing to let her distract him any longer, he whispered out,

"You will fight me, right here and now. If you manage to beat me, I will return your heart to you and give you freedom to kill everyone aboard my ship. Myself included."

Tilted her head to the side, she eyed the blade of his sword to make sure it didn't cut into her skin.

"And if you win?"

For the very first time since she had walked into the training room, Law's features broke out into his signature smirk, lazily giving her a flash of his pearly white teeth, the sight of it bringing butterflies into her stomach, as she clenched her thighs together.

"Well, then I keep your precious heart and you will obediently follow my  _every_  command until we have reached the next island."

She returned his amused smirk, suddenly feeling herself get anxious and excited to see which one of them would win when finally getting to fight  _fairly_ one on one.

_'Well, this ought to be interesting...'_

"Then let us begin, Trafalgar-san."


	11. Why Was I Born If Just To Live In Misery

"Which room was she staying in again?"

Penguin looked over to his companion with a roll of his eyes, shaking his head in frustration at the millions of times they'd been through this.

"Oi oi, Shachi! Weren't you listening when Captain was speaking damn it!? She's in the very last room at the hall  _baaaaka."_

Shachi raised his hands up defensively, shaking his head back and forth with a nervous laugh.

"Sorry sorry! I- I didn't mean to zone out! It's just that...I couldn't help but think about how cute Asura-chan would probably look when she woke up in the morning..."

There was a small blush creeping across his cheeks, while a trail of blood quickly ran down his nose at the thought of her hopefully dressed in revealing pajamas, and with a head full of cute bed hair. It wasn't every day that they had a woman staying overnight on their sub, and a part of him  _really_  wanted to see how she would look like first thing in the morning.

Penguin shook his head as they turned down the hallway where all of their crew slept. Crossing his arms confidently he added,

"Well, you're lucky I wasn't too busy fawning over a woman and instead listened to what Captain had to say. Really, man, you gotta grow up one of these days. You've got blood stains all over your jumpsuit."

He gave his friend an arrogant smirk as Shachi looked down to notice the stains on his clothes for the first time, all the while Penguin ignored the red stains on his _own_  jumpsuit.

Penguin continued to walk until he suddenly couldn't hear the steps of his friend walking next to him anymore. Coming to a stop, he turned around to see Shachi several feet behind with his eyes glued to the floor.

Frowning, he made his way back over to stand in front of him. Setting a hand on his friends back he added,

"You okay, man?" Shaking his head, Shachi raised his head to give his friend an unsettling look.

"The blood...t-the blood on my jumpsuit mixed with thoughts of Asura-chan just reminded me of the first night we saw her. And then with the whole dinner thing last night...I...oh god...I can't believe I let myself think about her so...so  _normally_  just now."

Giving his friend a sympathetic look, Penguin chuckled out,

"Yeah. Yeah, I know what you mean. It's easy to forget that she's a cold-blooded killer who can slit our throats at any given moment instead of just some normal girl, you know?"

With a nervous shake of his head, Shachi couldn't help but agree and think that invading her bedroom uninvited was suddenly a horrible  _horrible_  idea. Before he could say anything, though, Penguin's next surprising words broke him from his thoughts.

"But you know, even after last night...I-I don't think that she's a bad person...necessarily. I just think that...well...she's..." He paused with a scowl, trying to find the right word to use.

"Misunderstood." He said, snapping his fingers. "She's just misunderstood, that's all. But regardless of what we think, we gotta follow Captain's orders no matter what. So come on, let's go."

He continued to walk to her assigned bedroom, Shachi reluctantly trailing not too far behind him, in awe that his friend could be so calm and situated at a time like this. Even after this woman had threatened to kill him, how was it possible that he didn't think she was a bad person?

Once the duo reached her door, however, it seemed that the extremity of what they were  _actually_ about to do finally settled between them. Would it really be okay to invade Asura's privacy and enter her bedroom unannounced? How could they possibly explain to the frightening woman that although the door to her room had a lock, their Captain had entrusted them with the key to walk in regardless of what she thought or not?

Would they even  _get_ to explain what they were doing in her room, or would she just kill them before they even got the chance to open their mouths?

Penguin turned to look at Shachi with hesitant eyes, before reaching into his jumpsuit pocket to grab the key that Law had given them. Setting the key into the keyhole, he gave his friend one last nervous glance.

"You ready?"

Shachi nodded his head quickly up and down, suddenly a little too shaky to speak out. Penguin gave a nod before taking a deep breath and slowly turning the key until he heard the sound of the door unlocking. There was a gulping sound coming from both men as they waited for the other to take the first step in opening the door. Shachi nudged Penguin in the arm, quietly hissing out,

"Aren't you gonna open the door?"

Penguin turned around with wide eyes, before hissing back,

" _What?_  I'm the one who unlocked it,  _you_ open the fucking door!"

The redhead stared at him in disbelief, not budging in the slightest.

"What the fuck was that just now about her being a good person and misunderstood!? Huh!? Did you forget all the bullshit you spouted that fast, you lying bastard!?"

Penguin growled in frustration, neither of them getting anywhere. Before he could counter with an argument of his own that  _no_  he hadn't been lying, the door to the showers behind them suddenly swung open, causing the engineers to jump in fright at the unexpected sound.

...

"What are you two idiots doing?"

Standing behind them was the crew mate that Asura had seen walking the halls of the submarine earlier, alone and too deeply engrossed in his doctor book. Stepping out with nothing but a towel tied around his tan waist, he took a smaller towel that he was carrying in his hand to shake through his dark black hair, the action leaving it strewn all over in different directions. He was missing the usual glasses that he wore, making it clearer to see his eyes were a light chestnut brown. Their absence made him resemble their captain even more than usual.

His glance was set into an intimidating scowl, which to them, was the usual look he always gave. It wasn't quite often they got the chance to see their crew mate crack a smile. He gave out an annoyed sigh at their frozen states and gestured between the two with his finger.

"Well? Are you just going to stand there? I asked what you guys were doing."

As if suddenly recovered from their shock, the pair erupted in a fit of shouts.

"Jesus Christ, Kyo!" "Damn it Kyo, don't fucking scare us like that man!"

Sensing the annoyed and impatient glare coming from their crew mate, Shachi decided to nervously speak out first,

"Captain ordered us to check on Asura-chan after we ate breakfast. Our orders were to have her meet him in the infirmary! But..he said that we couldn't knock for some reason...and to open her door with the spare key. But this dumbass over here got scared and almost shit his pants which is when you saw us arguing just now. Honestly, man, I don't even know why Captain let her on board in the first place."

At the mention of their Captain, Kyo's emotionless chestnut eyes suddenly gleamed with awe and admiration, his mood quickly having been lifted as if turning on some sort of switch in his body. They should have known by now that he was a sucker for anything that concerned Law, and although his personality was rather cold and serious most of the time, he became a completely different person when any talk of the Captain was involved.

"Asura... _chan_? Ahhh you mean that strange brunette who has been stalking about our ship since yesterday evening? I saw her about ten minutes ago making her way around the submarine. Although, I don't particularly know where she was headed. But it was in the direction of our Captain's bedroom."

The two engineers gave each other a puzzled glance before they both turned to open the door to her bedroom. And sure enough, the initial root of all their terrors was nowhere to be found.

Feeling slightly embarrassed at their mistake, they broke out into nervous laughter, earning a raised eyebrow from Kyo. He just shook his head and accepted the fact that these two would probably never change their ridiculous habits. Really, to be intimidated by a woman who was by herself against seventeen other pirates? And not to mention how utterly petite and  _tiny_  she was? It seemed the two of them had forgotten just whose crew they were a part of. He had no doubts that his Captain would take care of her immediately if she were to become a threat to his nakama.

"Anyway, the two of you better get going if you intend on catching up with her. I don't think Captain will be too thrilled if she was to interrupt him in his morning plans without the company of two specific engineers. You know how he gets when things don't go according to schedule."

Their eyes widened in realization at Kyo's words, remembering that Law had specifically told them to have her meet him in the infirmary  _right after_  they ate breakfast. How much time had they spent bickering and going back and forth? Was he going to think that they allowed for a stranger to roam the sub alone and without supervision, not even capable of carrying out simple instructions? Their captain was a very precise man who preferred things in a precise way, always following everything according to plan. If he wanted to see her in the infirmary, then that is where she needed to be immediately. If they had kept Law waiting for even a second...Oh, boy were they going to get hell if she happened to find him first.

"Fucking-"

"-Shit."

Their thoughts in sync, the pair gazed frantically at their friend. Penguin grabbed onto Kyo's arm and began to shake his body, the action sending droplets of water onto his face and the floor.

"Kyo! Do you know where Captain is right now?!"

Nodding his head in annoyance, he removed Penguin's tight grasp from his arm before rolling his eyes.

"As if there would be a time I  _wouldn't_  know such information you dumbass. Who do you take me for? Captain's been in the training room since six in the morning. "

Not even wanting to know how he always happened to know the location of their captain, they gave him a huge thanks and shouted their goodbyes to Kyo before running back through the hallways and in the direction of Law's bedroom. Every step of the way praying that they would make it to Asura in time and that she had possibly gotten lost or hadn't the faintest clue where their captain even was.

Back in the hallway, Kyo continued to stare in the direction his two crew mates had run off to. Not usually interested in anything that didn't have to do with his Captain or the study of medicine, he couldn't help the scowl that formed on his face at their mention of the certain woman stalking about their sub.

"Asura, huh? Now just where is it I've heard that unusual name before?"

* * *

Do you think we should check Captain's bedroom first just in case he's there..."

"...Orrr should we go straight to the training room?"

Penguin shook his head at the redhead, "I mean we're already going to pass up his bedroom anyway, we might as well check there first if she was headed this way."

Nodding their heads in unison, they continued until they finally found themselves in front of their captain's intimidating door. Not wasting any time to argue on who should knock first, Penguin took the initiative and knocked several times before stopping to see if he would hear a response. When none came, he knocked a few more times, this time shouting "Captain!" just to make sure that Law had heard him. When they heard no "Come in" or "What is it?" the engineers could only come up with the conclusion that he wasn't in his bedroom.

Shachi banged his head against the wall with frustration. "Damn it. He must still be in the training room."

His friend gave him a reassuring pat on the back. "Don't worry pal. There's no way she would know where to go to find that room. It's for our crews use only."

Nodding his head in agreement, Shachi realized that he was right. They still had a chance to beat her before she reached Law.

"Hahaha, you're right man. Let's go tell him that she had already woken up when we checked her room and that she's just somewhere wandering around on the sub. No way we could get in trouble for that...hahaha...right?"

Hastily making their way to the training room where their Captain was, the two engineers both secretly prayed that they would reach Law before Asura got the chance to. Quickly running down the stairs while trying not to trip, they reached the porthole on the door and glanced in to make sure they wouldn't be interrupting Law during any important training. But what they saw instead made their hearts instantly drop.

There, standing in the middle of the room, was their Captain accompanied by none other than the psychotic killer herself. The walls of the room were thickly built so it was difficult to make out what the two were talking about, but by the look of their Captain's face, whatever it was they were talking about it couldn't be any good. It wasn't that often they got to witness Law with rage filled eyes, so to stumble upon such a rare scene made the hair on both engineers' necks stand up.

"Shit. Shit shit shit! Penguin! Oiiii Penguin?! I thought you said she wouldn't know where to find him?! Damn it he's probably that pissed off because of us. Do you see how mad he looks?! Yup that's right. She interrupted him and he's probably wondering where the  _hell_  we are...and  _oh goddd_  I don't wanna walk around with my head attached to my ass again! Oh my god I-"

Slapping his hysterical friend across the face, he brought his index finger to his own lips indicating for him to get quiet.

"Listen, just take deep breaths, okay? It's gonna be fine. W-we just need to be quiet so they don't hear us, alright damn it?"

When the redhead gave him a quick nod of his head, he gave out an irritated sigh and once again looked through the porthole to his captain and their guest.

"What the hell do you think they're talking about anyway?"

Peeking in to get a better look as well, Shachi's eyes widened with curiosity as he saw Law gesture to their wall of weapons. After several moments of looking around, she pointed towards two small knives which Law used his powers to retrieve, handing them to her while he went to grab his nodachi.

Asura twirled the knives in her hands to feel the weight of them before she turned around to face the door where the boys were. They quickly lowered themselves as to not get caught before there was a sudden thud against the door, accompanied by the tip of a knife now stuck in between the duo's heads. Both men staggered back from the door in shock, terrified to think of the possibility that they had been caught spying and were about to receive the ultimate punishment.

But no punishment ever came. The knife was removed from the door several seconds later, and there was no evidence to indicate that Asura or Law were going to open it and see them sprawled pathetically across the floor. Slowly standing up with caution Penguin made his way to look into the porthole again, this time, shocked to see that both Law and Asura had suddenly assumed fighting stances in the middle of the training room.

"Pssst...Shachi. Come look! Hurry!"

With his eyes glued through the hole, he gestured with his arm for his friend to come join him, not believing that his captain was about to spar with a woman. A woman who had a  _serious_  lust for blood.

Feeling his body being pushed to the side, he looked over to see Shachi trying to get a better view of the situation. It was hard for the both of them to get a good look through such a small porthole, but they tried to make it work. There was no way they were going to miss witnessing such a fight. They didn't know what had caused the two of them to want to begin sparring, but the serious look on both faces told the engineers that this was no innocent duel just for fun. Whatever they were fighting for, it looked that either party was ready to lose their life over it.

With a glance of worry to each other in hopes that their captain would be okay on his own, they glued their eyes to the window and watched the fight unfold nervously in silence.

* * *

"Soooo, the only rule is no Devil Fruit powers. Correct, Trafalgar-san? Everything else is fair game?"

Law gave her a nod of his head, reminding himself that such a rule was in place  _just_  so he could show her that he would win this fight on sheer power and skill alone. The only downside was that he wasn't aware if she was a Devil Fruit user or not. He had some speculations from her actions at the bar, but he still had not confirmed it yet. So for now, it seemed their only rule in this fight applied to him and him alone. Which was fine with him. He didn't want to win this by using his powers anyway.

Pointing with his thumb to the wall of weapons on his left he added,

"You may choose  _one_  weapon of your choice from this wall. However, if you want to fight with your own daggers or whatever, then do as you wish. I could really care less. Just hurry up and pick."

Glancing at the wall he was talking about to entertain his offer, her attention instantly fell onto a set of twin bowing knives with blades at least several inches long hanging onto the wall. Unfortunately, they were too far up for her to reach on her own, so she stole a quick glance to Law with a mischievous smirk, pointing at the weapons she had chosen. He didn't need to know that she had two smaller daggers hidden in the heels of her boots. She would keep  _that_  little secret to herself for now.

With a roll of his eyes, he uttered a soft, "Room", and teleported the knives off of the wall and into his hands. Handing them to her, she twirled them around in her fingers to get a better feel of the weapons. The wooden grip was easy to hold in her hands, and it wouldn't be hard for her to get used to the weight and size of them. She had been thoroughly trained to handle many weapons of different size and purpose. Deciding to give them a quick test throw, she turned and aimed straight for the middle of the wooden door, piercing it exactly where she had been aiming.

_'Hopefully, I got one of them...'_

With a satisfied smile, she made her way to remove the embedded weapon from the door, a little disappointed to find no traces of blood. She confidently turned and made her way back to stand in front of Law again. The latter seemed to be cautious of her every move, not entirely sure she was someone who could patiently wait for them to assume their fighting stances before attacking him. That being said, he wasn't too entirely convinced that a sparring match was the best idea when it came to dealing with her anyway, but in the heat of the moment his anger had taken over him completely. The next thing he knew he had blurted out the first thing that had come to his mind without giving it much thought, an action he rarely ever did.

Really, it couldn't have been helped, though. All her talk of killing Bepo and the rest of his men had sent him into a fit of rage. One that, he had been trying to avoid since she first stepped aboard his sub. The image of what kind of woman he would be dealing with when he first set eyes on her was  _entirely_  different when compared to the real thing. She had shown to be much more trouble than she was worth, and he had come to regret ever wanting to have her join his crew. He could see it now while staring at her standing before him with a wicked look in her eyes, that she was long past the point of being helped. She was too far gone in her own sick and twisted mind to ever be able to join any sort of crew and think of them as her 'friends'.

_'All the more reason to help her. Don't you think so, Law? She seems to remind me of a certain brat I know.'_

Widening his eyes, he couldn't stop the breath that got stuck in his throat at the sound of Corazon's sudden voice in his head. A voice that he had to admit he was beginning to hear more frequently ever since Doflamingo had been taken down. Ever since he had fulfilled Corazon's dreams of stopping his brother. He didn't know if it was just his mind playing sick tricks on him after all these years, but he had come to find the voice strangely calming over the past few weeks. It was nice to imagine that Cora-san was standing by his side throughout his journeys.

But to ask him to help her? Couldn't he see how much of a lost cause she was? This woman thought of nothing but bringing death to others who stood in her path, wanting nothing else but to completely destroy everything around her. She was cunning and she was cruel, and he was sure not even extensive amounts of psychiatric help would snap her out of it.

But with a sudden realization at his own words, Law let out a deep chuckle at the sense of deja vu as he understood what it was Cora-san was trying to tell him.

Alright, he got it now. Starting with this fight he would make sure to establish complete and utter dominance over her if only to have her behave.  _After_  he did that, would he even begin to consider saving her from the very heinous depths of her own destructive mind. A place that he himself had once been in as well.

"Hellooooo? Earth to Trafalgar-san? Are you ready or what?"

Snapping his head up at Asura, she used the hair tie on her wrist to pull her hair back into a tight ponytail, now fully ready to begin. With his nodachi already unsheathed, he held the sword vertically out in front of him and took his stance, indicating that he was also ready. Now wasn't the time to think of such things. He needed to win this fight, if only for him and his men. He would deal with Cora-san and his idiotic idea later. With a nod of his head and a dark look in his eyes, he ushered for them to finally begin.

Law was the first one to make a move as he moved closer, holding his nodachi with both arms on his side. He swung at her with full force as if swinging a baseball bat, testing the waters with how much power she could take. With his arms as long as they were, he barely had to move in order for his nodachi to reach her. She crossed the knives to her right to block his attack, but the surprising power of it sent her tumbling back. Backflipping in order to lower her momentum, she landed on her feet gracefully before shooting the pirate a crazed smile.

She looked around the room quickly to find an opening she could use to land a close attack on Law. It was true that his body and range of attacks were larger, but she was smaller and faster. Which meant, she just had to make sure that she kept her speed of attacks faster than he did. He was standing in front of the mirrored wall now, and at that moment an idea made its way into her head. Running at top speed she made her way to the mirror behind Law, jumping to a high spot and using it as a boost to turn around and kick herself off, going to quickly attack him from behind in the air.

Unfortunately for her, Law was easily able to predict her movements and sidestepped to dodge her attack, Asura landing gracefully once again with her back now to him. He stepped closer to her and took another swing of his nodachi, this time aiming to cut her head straight off. But as if predicting  _his_  movements as well, she immediately fell with her ass to the ground and turned her body to lunge and attack his lower legs. Law was able to jump back and dodge most of her attack, but one of her knives managed to make a small horizontal slice through his sweatpants and onto his shin.

He momentarily moved farther back and paused to catch his breath, watching her every move as Asura stood up to face him. Her head was down, her long dark hair obstructing most of her face. She flipped her head back, moving the hair out of her face to reveal eager eyes. Her lips broke out into a villainous smile as she moved her dagger to her mouth to  _slowly_  lap at his blood with her tongue, all the while explicitly staring at Law with a lustful gaze.

Her cheeks broke out into a terribly obvious blush as she closed her eyes to lick her dark lips, getting the last drop of his blood to savor the exquisite taste of the surprisingly  _sweet_  liquid.

"Ahhhhh!" She moaned out with joy, clutching her arms to her chest tightly, the action giving Law an explicit view of her squeezed cleavage through her tank top. "Trafalgar-sannn, you taste absolutely  _remarkable."_

She opened her eyes and broke off into a sudden sprint, aiming to attack him straight on once again, screaming, "PLEASE! GIVE ME MORE!"

Running towards him to close the gap for her next attack, she lunged at him with enough serious force with her blade in hand, that it became evident to Law she was out for more than just his head. She was out for a  _blood bath_. And at the worst timing possible, his right arm suddenly surged with a shooting pain, a likely result of the amount of strain he had put on it the past couple of hours with his extensive training. Not to mention having to deal with her as well.

There was no hesitation in her attacks as she tried to stab him from multiple directions, forcing Law to go on the defensive. Trying to evade one blade with his nodachi as he deflected the other, Law jumped back to create some distance between the two before she could realize that his arm's strength was approaching its limit. But what Law didn't know was that Asura's body was reaching its limit as well. She, unfortunately, had been able to quickly kill all of her past victims without so much of a fight. The majority of her attacks were so quick and surprising, that most were already dead before their minds could register what had happened to them. She hadn't been used to prolonged fighting for years, and her body was beginning to tire.

Becoming desperate, Asura grabbed the daggers hidden in her boots and threw both blades at Law, deciding that while he was busy with deflecting them, she would use it as an opening to attack once again. She watched him as he deflected the first with his sword, but he wasn't fast enough to deflect the second one before it embedded itself into his upper left thigh.

Gritting his teeth as he quickly removed the dagger, he could only watch as her body slammed into his own, sending the both of them tumbling onto the floor. Law lost the grip he had to the hilt of his sword and felt his weapon leave his hand, as they continued to roll over each other. In the end, Asura was quicker to pull herself on top, also having lost her grip on one of the knives upon their impact.

Wasting no time, she raised the knife into the air, before bringing it down with one strike. Unable to stop the small upturn of the corner of his mouth, he watched as her eyes widened with surprise that he was easily able to catch the blade of her knife with his bare hands before it could pierce through his beautiful skull. Licking her lips in hunger, she looked at him with a monstrous look in her eyes. She lowered her head to his and mustered all of her strength into both hands, trying with all her might to stab Law through the head.

"Hey hey, do me a favor and dieeee~ already Trafalgar- _kuuun_."

Rolling her eyes with a pout, she was rather annoyed at how stubborn he had turned out to be. Surely with a weakened arm and now a weakened leg, it should have been easy to create openings where she could easily have attacked him. What she hadn't calculated was that although it was no issue creating such openings, he was sufficiently more powerful in physical strength and had enough stamina to keep withstanding her ongoing attacks. Whereas she could only attack for a short limited of time before both her stamina and strength were to be used up. She had underestimated his amount of skill without the help of his little devil fruit, but she wouldn't let that stop her now. She needed to defeat him and get her heart back. She was afraid what sort of state her mind would go into if she were to lose her freedom.

Infusing his arms with Haki to keep the blade from slicing through his hands, Law continued to smirk devilishly at her frustrated pout.

"Now you and I both know I can't do that, Asura-ya. Do you know what will happen to your heart if I die?"

Taking the small moment of hesitation those words caused in her movements, Law used the grip he had on her blade to pull her entire body down towards him, moving to the side at the last second to pierce the knife through the black mat beneath them. She let out an animalistic growl to display her rising amount of annoyance as she moved to retrieve the blade that had embedded itself into the floor. Moving to grab his nodachi that was several feet away, he wasted no time and lunged at her once again, this time, his sword held perpendicular with his body. He wanted to get a straight stab through her gut, hoping it would bring the woman down.

As he lunged at her, with only one small knife to protect her and rather impeccable timing, she waited for the perfect moment to block his attack from above using the tip of her blade to hit his own which sent his aim lower than he had initially hoped. What she hadn't accounted for, unfortunately, was that  _that_ angle was all he needed in order to get a straight shot to her left foot instead, his sword easily piercing through her boot.

With the sound of her sudden scream piercing his eardrums, he watched as she dropped the blade and her body to the floor to tend to her foot. Completely forgetting that she was in the middle of a battle, and such an action would involve certain death.

He wiped at the sweat on his forehead, before hesitantly inching his way closer to her. This time hoping to get his final attack in, claiming him as the victor. Just when he reached to stand in front of her, she raised her head with wide maniacal eyes as she lunged at him once again, this time barehanded. Wrapping her legs tightly around his waist, she desperately tried to claw at his face, her actions completely raw and animalistic. She had lost complete sense of control and was just aimlessly attacking him now.

Using his strength to try and pry her off of him, Asura's grip around his waist was as tight as a monkey's, and her weight was beginning to send a shooting pain through his arm. Reminding himself once again, that he needed to end this soon if he wanted to avoid further serious injury.

Her nails managed to cut him right on his lip as he could taste small amounts of blood on his tongue. Growing frustrated and impatient at her random punches and slaps, he decided to return the favor and used the hand that wasn't holding his nodachi to land a clean hard punch directly in her jaw. The shock of getting hit caused for her to loosen her grip around him, and sent her falling to her back on the floor.

In no time at all, he was crouched down and looming over her with an evil look in his eyes, as if he was thinking about nothing else but torturously killing her at that moment. With his left hand latched around her throat, he had the sudden urge to squeeze it as tight as he could, hoping it would break her spinal cord. A rush of excitement was taking over him, and he couldn't help but think just  _how_  small her neck really was enveloped by his fingers. How easy it would be to just squeeze and  _snap_.

This woman was a lost cause. That is simply all she was. What was keeping him from ending her life right here and now? It would be so easy...so  _ridiculously_  easy.

As if sensing the dark path that his thoughts were taking, Asura's eyes remained wide and hysterical as she placed both hands over his. And instead of trying to pry his hand away from her throat, this time, she instead gave it an assuring squeeze.

"Go ahead Trafalgar. Kill me. Kill me like the psychopathic killer you and I both know you are _._  Isn't that what your mind is telling you to do? To get rid of me? The person threatening to kill your  _precious_  little crew?"

Removing one of her hands, she used it to reach for his face, a finger softly tracing over the cut she had caused on his full lips. With a sly grin, she added,

"Or do you have me in this position for  _other_  reasons?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, astounded that she could even think of making jokes at a time like this. He moved his head closer to hers, hoping from this new distance she would be able to fully see the rage that was spilling from his eyes and realize that  _no._ He did  _not_  want to fuck her. No matter how much his dick disagreed with that issue.

"As if I would be so foolish to stick my dick inside a worthless whore like you."

With one last tight squeeze of his hand, he released her throat to slam her head into the ground once more before proceeding to stand up. He grabbed his abandoned t-shirt from the other side of the room before making his way to the exit. Without turning around to look at her he added,

"Your heart will be returned to you once we have reached the next island. Until then your entire flesh body, your mind, and your soul are  _mine._  Do well to remember that, Asura-ya."

Asura remained flat on the floor as she suddenly broke out into an uncontrollable and barbaric laughter at his words, the delirious sound of her voice sending shivers down anyone's spine who heard it. She continued to do so until he opened the door to leave the training room, her psychotic laughter still audible even behind the thick walls. He gave out a troubled sigh at her behavior, wondering if she was having a mental breakdown. That was when he stumbled upon two very nervous and very frightened engineers standing right outside the door. To be honest he had completely forgotten they were there, having sensed their presence minutes before the fight had even begun.

Before they could comment on the state of his injuries and ask if he was alright, he held his hand up with a deep sigh.

"Yes I'm fine, and no I don't need your help. I'll deal with the two of you later. For now, make sure she is in the infirmary in exactly  _one hour._  Surely I won't have to ask you a third time?"

The duo shook their heads frantically, not wanting to cause their captain any more stress than he was already experiencing. With a satisfied nod of his head, Law began to make his way upstairs and out of sight.

"Good."

* * *

_*Several hours later*_

It was now near dinner time, and the Mess Deck was filled with the entire crew waiting to see what sort of tasty meal Jim had prepared them for the night. The men were strewn all over, as usual, laughing and drinking with each other as they enjoyed yet another day with their crew mates in blissful happiness.

Penguin, Shachi, and Bepo were seated at their regular table and chatting alongside Haru and Ren. It seemed the former bluenette had convinced his friend to come to dinner with the rest of the crew tonight, instead of staying to eat in his room which he had declared as safe and far away from a certain freak woman. But looking at him now, with his emerald eyes filled with laughter, it would seem that he had completely forgotten about those troubles and instead had chosen to enjoy the night drinking with his nakama instead.

Law had made his way to the Mess Deck not too long ago, taking his usual seat across from Jean-Bart. Normally, Bepo would have joined them as well, but Law had insisted he sit with the others for tonight. If only to make sure he kept him as far away from Asura as he could after her sudden declaration of her true feelings regarding the polar bear. Upon entering the Mess Deck, he had immediately scanned the room for his troublesome little guest but had caught no sight of her anywhere. He supposed she was still cooped up in her room after her earlier visit to the infirmary.

If he was being truthful, he had expected for her to come barging into the infirmary with that crazed look in her eyes and demanding for her heart back with two flustered engineers following behind her.

But instead, he had been met with obedient and almost zombie-like behavior. She had followed his men respectively and without a fight and had not uttered a single word to them or Law as he tended to the injuries she had suffered from their fight. Her gaze had been dark and far away, her eyes having never left the cold floor beneath them. When he had begun to stitch together the stab wound on her foot, he had been positive he would receive some sort of physical or verbal response from her. He had almost been anticipating it. To see the pain on her face from the injury of a fight she had  _lost._  But none ever came. Her body had not moved a single inch from the moment the needle had punctured her skin, and continued to do so as he stitched her skin back together. She behaved how he had wanted her too from the very beginning, and a swell of pride filled him to think that he had been the reason for her newfound behavior.

But even so, he couldn't help but have felt slight worry at her actions, for no other reason than the fact he was a doctor. Her eyes had been distant and cold, so different from the looks she had given him in the training room. It was as though the only part of her that was present in the infirmary, was her physical body. Her mind was entirely somewhere else. A place he knew nothing about, and couldn't even begin to understand.

All sorts of questions began to fill his mind the more he analyzed her previous behavior. Could it be possible she suffered a mental breakdown like he had thought? Did it go even farther than that? He couldn't be too sure without running some tests, but he couldn't knock out the possibility. Not if her psychotic and disturbingly constant bipolar behavior were anything to go by.

Tch, why did he even care? He could just drop her off at the next island, return her heart, and be on his very way. She could seek help for her insanity elsewhere. Or continue killing and running from the marines if that is what she wanted to do. She wasn't his responsibility, and he could honestly care less what happened to her after they parted ways.

So after feeling this way, why couldn't he get Cora-san's words from earlier out of his mind? Why was he so intent on Law helping her? Corazon had been the man who saved Law from utter destruction. He saved him from his biggest enemy, which hadn't been Doflamingo, but really himself and his broken mind. How was he supposed to offer her that same sort of help? He didn't have a single idea where her problems began or how he could find out. And for another reason, why would he even  _want_  to?

And as if on some sort of sick cue, the object of his thoughts suddenly pushed open the doors to the Mess Deck, swiftly entering the room. She was wearing black jeans with a white tank top that was cut into a crop top. The hole in her chest from her missing organ was mostly visible to all, and he wondered if she had done it on purpose.

She would have probably been more comfortable in casual boots, but since they had been ruined in the fight, she settled for her nude open-toed thin strap heels. She walked forward with a slight limp to her step, as anyone could clearly see her left foot was completely bandaged to keep her stitches from opening. The cold look from before was still in her eyes, partly shielded by her dark hair that was let down around her shoulders. But there was more emotion in her expressions now. Whether it was anger, or annoyance, or whatever...he was just somewhat glad to see her mind had not completely shut itself down just yet.

Her grim gaze met his then, as she turned to make her way to his table almost robotically. Just like he had instructed her to do so during a talk they had in the infirmary. Well, really  _he_  had done all the talking since she had refused to make even a single sound. But either way, with his entire crew now in the Mess Deck, it was better that she stuck close to him.

Reaching the table, Law gestured for her to sit down next to him with the point of his index finger which she did without any hesitation, ignoring the stares and whispers from some of the crew. He smirked to himself at her obedient behavior, seemingly amused and relieved that she wouldn't be putting up any more unnecessary fights.

Law's table sat in complete silence while everyone else picked back up on their own conversations, patiently waiting for food to finally be served. It had been another long day at sea, and although it had been uneventful, they were all extremely hungry. Minutes passed by before Jim suddenly pushed his way through the kitchen doors with three other crewmates quickly behind him. Asura stole them a curious glance and recognized the first two men as the large twins she had seen earlier that morning on her way to Law's room. She had expected such large men to work as mechanics or something similar, never had she imagined they would be part of the kitchen's staff. The other man they were with was someone she had never seen before.

He was around the same height level as Jim, but unfortunately lacked the muscular body that the old man had. This man was quite chubby in weight, with dark black hair hidden underneath a black hat. He had a goatee a little scruffier than Laws' with a thin mustache. And just like some of the other Heart Pirates, he wore sunglasses that blocked her view of his eyes. She questioned why pirates would need sunglasses underneath the water in the first place, but decided it would do no good to ask questions she would more than likely not get the answers to.

She watched as the man made his way over to their table with three plates of food. He set the first one down for his captain, the second for Jean-Bart, and lastly Asura's, making sure he flashed her a friendly smile which she chose to completely ignore. He gave his captain a curious glance at her behavior, before making his way back into the kitchen to grab more food.

She momentarily stared at her food in silence. What was she really doing here? Was she supposed to just sit here like a dog and adhere to this man's every command? Her entire body was scorching with anger, her clenched palms beginning to sweat. It was taking every ounce of her energy to remain calm and in control. To refrain from showing that bastard any sort of emotion. Keeping her eyes away from his and her mouth shut were the smartest things she could do at the moment. Because she really didn't think she would be able to control herself if she saw his lips smirk with a smug satisfaction in his victory. A smirk that she knew she would be receiving as a form of a taunt.

She would kill him. Ohhh would she kill him. But for now, he was absolutely right. Her entire being belonged to him and no amount of self-wallowing would change that. She would stick to herself, remain quiet and almost dead like. He would think he broke her. He would think that his actions reached out and touched something inside her. Something that would make her obey him. He could believe that. It made no difference to her. Because she, herself, would know better. Know that she wasn't giving up and that she  _would_ win. Patience wasn't really her forte but she would play along with his foolish plans for now.

Once everyone had been given their dinner, Law lazily glanced around the room to make sure every crew mate was there and accounted for. Gazing around, he saw many of his men steal quick curious glances towards Asura, but quickly turn away as soon as they caught his stare. With a deep sigh to himself, he couldn't really blame them. He had never brought a woman aboard his submarine in such a way, with no announcement or warning. And any whores or fangirls he brought back with him to the sub either left that same night or the morning after. Never did he have women travel with them between islands. So it was only natural for them to be wary and confused. Now that everyone was present, he figured that it would be a better time than any to formally introduce her to them.

Wiping his mouth with his napkin, he set it down on the table before swiftly moving his chair back to stand up. Setting his hands into the pockets of his favorite spotted jeans, he had to wait no more than several seconds before every voice in the room instantaneously grew quiet. All conversation died down, as every eye in the room was now on their captain, waiting patiently to hear what he had to say. It wasn't very often that he interrupted them in the middle of their meals in order to make an announcement, so whatever it was, they knew it had to be important.

Her gaze having been down at the food the entire time, Asura initially missed why the entire room had grown so quiet. Looking up, she gazed around the room and felt as though every eye was suddenly on her. Narrowing her eyes, she wondered what could have possibly made them so speechless before she heard Law clearing his throat next to her. Turning to look his way, she noticed he was now standing up with his eyes glued to his men in an authoritative way.

She found herself completely surprised and also disgusted by the actions of the Heart Pirates. She wondered what sort of cruel and twisted methods Law had used in order to permanently scare his men into such obedience. Is this what they believed was respect? More like cowardly fear if you asked her. Because that is what it  _had_ to be. Fear. The only emotion one can use in order to fully manipulate others. No part of her could believe for a second that his men behaved in such a way as a means of respect. There was just no possible way.

But just like the rest of them, she found her eyes glued to the man next to her in curiosity and suspicion at what he could possibly have to say at a time like this. He quickly glanced down towards her to make sure she was paying attention, before looking back up. In his usual deep and charming voice, he began,

"As you are all probably aware by now, we have taken a guest aboard our submarine for the next few weeks." Gesturing down towards her, Law missed the way her eyes widened at his sudden statement before continuing, "Two days ago, Bepo and I happened across Asura-ya on the beach mere minutes before we were set to leave Kodachi Island. She was in desperate need of transportation to the next island, which I offered her in return for money and a navigational map for the surrounding area."

"I wanted to clear up any confusion or rumors that this woman has joined our crew, which she has not."

This time, he met her narrowed gaze with a sharp look of his own before adding, "If you behave harmoniously with her, she will behave the same with you. You are not to attack her first, the only exception being self-defense. If she is seen acting suspiciously, it is to be reported immediately to either I or Bepo, do I make myself clear?"

And as if knowing where the trail of thought of some of his men was going he cleared his throat and quickly finished with, "And by  _no_  means, are any of you to inappropriately touch or sleep with her. If you are lonely and company is what you seek, save it for the next island. None of that will be tolerated upon her stay here."

With his point made, he glanced back at his crew to see if anyone had any questions about his sudden declaration. He knew his timing of her introduction had been slightly late, but he believed that now was a better time than any to make sure everyone on board knew who she was and why she was there. Of course, they didn't need to know the details of her cold-blooded murder, or what had happened between them in the training room, but he trusted his men to make smart and rational decisions regardless. Especially around a complete stranger.

The entire time Law had been speaking, Asura had struggled to force every muscle in her body to sit still. She was in constant reminder that the object of her rage was also the same man who now held her most vital organs in his hands.  _Literally._

Just what had she done to end up in such a predicament? Just a few nights ago, she had been alone and comfortable, with no threats to her life. Now, the marines were after her and a lunatic pirate was in complete control of both her body and her actions. It was as though the universe was reminding her what sort of fate it had decided she would have. One filled with nothing but despair and constant torture. And that no matter what she did, or where she went, this fate was tied to her. She would never be able to escape.

A sudden thud was heard across the Mess Deck from Penguin and Shachi's direction. Glancing over there like everyone else she noticed that the bluenette from the previous night, Haru if she remembered correctly, was standing up with his palms laid out on the table. A look of anger, mixed with that of doubt could be seen etched on his face. His dark blue eyes were filled with worry and he gave her a quick look of disgust before glancing to his captain.

"B-but, but Captain! She almost killed Penguin! How can you be so sure she won't attack the rest of us?!" Pointing towards his friend, he continued, "I mean look how much she freaked out Ren! There's something  _off_  about her Captain. I really don't think it's a good idea to let her stay with us."

Allowing for his crewmate to finish his thoughts before speaking up, Law patiently listened to everything Haru had to say. Reaching into the inner pocket of his coat, he pulled out what everyone could see was a human heart. Asura frantically looked to Law, this time, her eyes wide with distress. There she was, so close to her own heart. And there was nothing she could do about it. She was truly a pathetic and worthless excuse for a human. She turned her gaze back towards her food, completely ashamed and embarrassed by her situation. She remained quiet as Law answered his crew's concern.

"I want to make something very clear. Asura-ya is not a prisoner aboard our ship. And she will not be treated as such. However, she is not a guest of honor either. And because of that, the both of us have come to an understanding in order to ensure our trip to the next island is peaceful and uneventful."

Gesturing to her heart, he raised it a little higher to make sure everyone got a good look.

"I have taken her heart as a sort of collateral and it will be returned to her once we have reached our destination. So as I stated before, if she is seen behaving suspiciously or aggressively, I am to be told immediately. And this way, I can ensure you that she will be thoroughly taken care of. Does everyone understand?"

The entire room was silent for a moment before they broke out into cheers and all shouted a loud "Hell yeah!" to let him know they understood. Haru glanced around the room with frustration that his crewmates could so easily accept the situation, but with one last look at Asura and her heart in Law's hands, he put enough trust into his captain's words to know he would take care of it if anything were to happen. Giving Ren an assuring pat on the back, he sat back down in his seat, content with finally being able to speak his mind.

With a nod of his head, Law gestured to their food before sitting back down. "Very well. Now continue with your dinner. We have a long day at sea tomorrow and I need all of you at full strength."

They all gave a few more cheers before turning their attention back to their plates. Stealing a glance towards Asura, he was curious to see how she had taken his sudden announcement of her stay and of their current situation. He was met with dead silence, however, as she refused to glance his way. Her eyes remained on her dinner the entire time, and she didn't say a word as she quickly finished her food before everyone else and left the Mess Deck to go back to her room.

Once back, she had taken a nice long shower before any of the men could come and interrupt her. Back in her room, she unlocked her chrome briefcase and picked up the stack of files and information and set them down on her bed. Digging through them, Asura passed the names of many different pirate crews, marines, underground ringleaders, celestial dragons, as well as many noblemen and more. She finally found what she was looking for and pulled the file she had on the Heart Pirates. Not filled with much information, she took a pen from her suitcase and decided to add to it.

She began to describe that the crew consisted of no female members and quickly jotted down the names of the few crewmates she had met with small descriptions of their appearance and their jobs on the submarine. She then began to describe that both Law and another pirate by the name of Monkey D. Luffy had taken down and killed Doflamingo in the country of Dressrosa and that Law's arm had been dismembered by someone in the past month, although she had no clue who it was or why they had done it. She didn't even know where it had occurred but left some blank space just in case she found out in the near future.

After spending so many years with an information collector like Richard, she had quickly picked up on his habits of documenting anything that she could. Which meant every island she went to, every person she came across, and anyone who was famous enough to get their name known in the New World. It could only help her in the long run to have access to such information and knowledge. Which is why after she was done with the Heart Pirate's file, she opened some files on marine captains. She did so in order to check if any of them were stationed close to their current location. It would be good to know which one she could potentially be dealing with when reaching the next island.

She recognized many of the different names and faces, remembering long ago that Richard had been in business with several corrupt marine officials. Many, who had come to visit Richards office during the time of her stay with him. She had never spoken to any, nor had she known what their business with Richard had been at the time, but the older she got the more she began to understand. Business in the New World was full of deals of trade. Richard provided them with endless information and goods, while they allowed for him to run his business freely under their protection. It was a win -win situation for both sides. Which made her think back to the picture of her the marines had been given on Kodachi.

Had he really been the one to send them after her then? After all these years, how many pathetic and crooked marines did he have under his belt? If he wanted to, like  _really_  wanted to, she believed that he would be able to find her. Which is why it just didn't make any sense why he would have sent them instead of coming after her himself. He wouldn't risk exposing her existence to the marines. Not after he had worked so hard to make sure she remained in the shadows.

Shaking her head, she gathered the files strewn on her bed and dropped them softly to the floor. She couldn't think of that right now. She had other important matters that she needed to handle first. The most important being to get her heart back. All of the events from the day suddenly weighed on her, reminding her she hadn't gotten a good night's sleep the previous night. Not that she expected to get one again tonight but she could at least try. Flopping her head onto her pillow, she closed her eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep, the whole night dreaming of nothing but Law's hand repeatedly reaching into her chest to savagely rip her heart out. 

Again, and again, and again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for being patient with my updates! Leave me comments on how I'm doing so far. I would love to know your opinions on my story :) I usually always update on fanfiction first under the same username, so if you get impatient waiting for updates here, check me out on there! Thanks again!


	12. Are You Fucking Kidding Me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own One Piece, Eiichiro Oda does. Asura and any characters you don't recognize are all mine!

It had now been six days since they all set sail from Kodachi. Six days since Asura's first steps onto the Heart Pirate's submarine...and the beginning of her enslavement to Trafalgar Law.

Not much had happened in the past week, really. She mostly stuck herself into her room, only appearing in the Mess Deck three times a day for meals. And that was only because she had been ordered to by Law. He insisted upon her attendance to each one and, not wanting to face the consequences, she easily complied with his one of _many_ demands.

Some of the men had walked in on her in the showers a couple times, but she completely ignored all of them, not in the least bit disturbed by their stares or cat calls. It wasn't like any of them had the balls to touch her, anyway. Over time, the majority of them got bored after getting no reaction from her, so in the end, they just let her be.

All in all, it almost seemed as though she wasn't even there, a mere ghost on their sub.

And for some strange reason, Penguin couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

Bepo had informed them that unfortunately due to the unruly weather conditions in the New World, they were going to have to take another route to the next island. The only downfall being that it was uncertain just when they would reach it. His estimate had been at least another two to three weeks, but it was possible that it could take more. Was she really going to lock herself in a room for three weeks? Maybe a month? Two months? He was sure there was _something_ he could do to help her enjoy her time on the submarine more.

Which was why he had gathered several of his crewmates, along with Shachi, to invite her to hang out with them. He knew the chances of her agreeing were slim to none, but he wanted to at least give it a try. Unfortunately, it hadn't really been that easy to convince his nakama...

_*Earlier that morning in the Mess Deck*_

"I'm sorry, you want to do _WHAT?"_

Shachi stared at his best friend sitting across the table from him as if he had grown two heads - and _not_ by the help of their captain's power. Was he honestly serious? He wanted to waltz right up to her room to knock on her door so they ask her to _hang out_? Which would more than likely interrupt whatever she was doing, causing her to get mad, and possibly hurt them?

Rolling his eyes, Penguin gave his friend a stern look, a little disappointed that he insisted on being so close-minded about the girl. But a sudden memory from long ago came to his mind, and he couldn't help but smirk as he knew exactly how he was going to convince Shachi.

"Do you remember when we were kids, and you had just moved to our island during the summer. You didn't know anyone and hadn't had enough time to make any friends before school started. What happened on that first day?"

The redhead widened his eyes at the sudden mention of the unfortunate memory, before moving his gaze to the floor with a scowl. He quietly began to mutter under his breath, barely wanting to be heard,

"I...I got picked on by Nano and his friends."

Nodding his head, Penguin continued on,

"Yes. Yes, you did. And then what happened?"

"Welllll?"

"...And then you interrupted their beating by kicking me in the face with a ball and instead of apologizing...asked me to be your friend."

"Yes. Yes, I did. Do you know why I didn't just join them in bullying you?"

Shaking his head, Shachi waited quietly for his friend to explain to him something he had in fact wondered for a very long time but had never found the right time to ask.

"I didn't join them because I wasn't a follower, man! Just because Nano _assumed_ that you were a loser, didn't make you one. I made my own decisions back then, and only I decided who my friends would and wouldn't be. Sure, it might have also saved me from getting bullied myself if I had just joined in, but if I had, then we wouldn't be Heart Pirates today now would we?"

Shachi took a moment for his friend's words to settle in his mind. It was true, he hadn't even gotten the chance to introduce himself before their class bully, Nano, had labeled him as a 'nose picking, bed wetting loser' which of course _hadn't_ been true.

That same day during their lunch break, he and his friends had dragged Shachi outside and continued to beat him until he was black and blue. One kid had even ripped out a chunk of his hair, and it had never grown back the same. Thankfully his hat kept anyone from seeing that small detail, but he _never_ forgot. It was no sooner than when he had given up on making any friends when Penguin had come running across the field like an idiot and kicked a dodgeball straight into his face.

Of course, Shachi passed out almost immediately and when he woke up, he was surprised to see the only person standing above him was none other than Penguin. He remembered the mischievous smile stretched across the young brunette's face, and Shachi had half expected for him to continue beating him and the other half had expected an apology. What he hadn't been expecting, however, was the young boy telling him that the hit to his face had sent his ball flying and now that they were friends, Shachi needed to help him look for it. Penguin had accepted no excuses as he held out his hand for Shachi to accept and the redhead could only remember how much he had cried in Penguin's arms as they searched all over the playground before finally finding the ball.

Penguin had accepted him with open arms and not once judged him for being the new kid. He had ignored all rumors and decided for himself what kind of person Shachi was. And now, over a decade later, they were still the best of friends getting to sail under their captain on the crew of their dreams.

It finally clicked to Shachi why Penguin had brought up such an old story.

His behavior towards Asura was no different than the way Nano had treated him. So she had killed some lousy pirate, so what? How many lives had he taken with his own hands ever since becoming a pirate? How much blood was on the hands of his own captain? Law was the same, if not _worse_ than she was. So why was he so adamant on avoiding her? Thinking about it now, he couldn't seem to come up with a valid excuse.

A small sense of shame began to overcome him, and as if sensing the path his friend's mind was taking, Penguin soon spoke up,

"Listen, you big idiot. You don't have to feel bad for thinking the way you did. It's understandable to want to be cautious around a stranger that we've only just met. But we gotta remember that she hasn't harmed anyone of us yet. And maybe she never will. But it isn't fair to isolate her from everyone just because we _think_ she's going to hurt us. So let's just give her a chance to have some fun with us, okay?"

"Yeah...yeah yeah you're right. I'm sorry man, I can't believe the way I've been acting. She deserves as much a chance as Captain gave the rest of us."

Thinking for a moment about the rest of their crewmates, he scratched his head as he continued,

"How do you think we can convince everyone else, though? Some of the guys are really freaked out by her after hearing what happened with Ren. Then the rest of them either don't care or just want to get close enough to fuck her..."

Penguin shot his friend a large smile before standing up to leave the Mess Deck. He had already gathered a few friends in the crew's game room before coming to speak to Shachi, but the redhead didn't need to know that it was, in fact, _he_ who had needed the most convincing out of everyone.

"Don't worry about all that, I've got it covered. Meet me in the game room in ten minutes!"

With that, he quickly ran out of the room, making his way to Asura's bedroom.

* * *

*Knock knock knock*

Asura raised her head from the book she was currently indulged in to look towards her bedroom door. With a deep sigh and a roll of her eyes, she bookmarked her page and stood up slowly with her bandaged foot to walk to the door, expecting to see Law's incredibly aggravating face behind it. She was ultimately caught off guard when instead of Law, it was the man who went by Penguin standing there instead.

She narrowed her eyes in an irritated gaze, hopefully, sending him a message that she wasn't too fond of being disturbed in the only private time she could afford when his Captain wasn't ordering her around their sub.

But it seemed he didn't get it because he suddenly broke out into a genuine smile and gave her a small wave.

"Hey, Asura-chan!"

Crossing her arms in annoyance, she leaned her body onto the doorway and continued to shoot him an icy glare.

"What do you want, Walrus-san?"

With a sigh at her choice of a nickname, Penguin stopped mid-wave to move his arm to scratch the back of his head. He probably should have figured that this wasn't going to go as easily as he thought it would. But he wasn't one to give up, and he wouldn't leave her door until she agreed to at least give him and his friends a chance.

"Uhh..listen, Asura-chan...me and a couple of the guys were going to hang out in our game room and we were wondering if you wanted to tag along? I'm sure Bepo didn't show it to you since its reserved for members of our crew only, but we've made an exception for you! I'm sure it's boring being cooped up in your room all day and you haven't really gotten the chance to do anything fun since you came aboard so I think it would really be a good chance for you to meet more of our members and-"

Suddenly raising a finger to his rambling lips to shut him up, Asura moved her face closer to his until their noses were touching. Penguin's breath quickly hitched in his throat at her proximity, of the feel of her breath mixed with his own. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his forehead, his palms suddenly beginning to clam up.

She broke out into a smirk at his change in behavior, all ounces of confidence suddenly flushed out of his body. Quietly murmuring in a sultry voice,

"If I agree to accompany you to this little 'game room' of yours, will you promise me to shut your little fucking mouth and leave me alone for the rest of this nightmare you people call a trip?"

Penguin found himself suddenly speechless. The look in her eyes and the charming sound of her voice pulled him in deep, and he found that he would probably do anything she had asked him to. So long as she continued to mesmerize him like this. Maybe that was what was actually frightening about the woman. Not her actions, but the way she could manipulate anyone into doing what she wanted, with a mere change in her voice.

Nodding his head in agreement, he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. He was sure he could get her to change her mind about them. All she had to do was spend an evening with him and his nakama and she would surely see how much fun they could be. He was positive that by the end of the trip, she would be begging to join their crew.

"O-okay deal. Wel-well then, let's go! The rest of the guys are waiting for us as we speak."

He nervously turned to make his way down the hall and when he knew she couldn't see his face anymore, his lips broke out into a wide grin. Completely ecstatic that he had succeeded in convincing her to come.

With a roll of her eyes to the sudden skip in his step, Asura locked the door to her room and begrudgingly followed after him.

* * *

Making their way down the hall, they passed the mess deck and infirmary and came to a regular metal door that looked like it could be a broom closet. Suddenly thinking she had been tricked in order to do more chores, Asura lowered her eyelids into a malicious glare at the man before her.

"Is this some kind of joke?"

Penguin turned to look at her with a friendly smirk, already knowing what she was thinking, before chuckling out,

"You're not very patient, are you, Asura-chan?"

Turning the handle, he opened the door to reveal a staircase heading to a floor above. Remembering the submarine's layout, she was astonished that Law was in possession of a _three_ level sub, possibly even more for all she knew. Something like this could be very...very useful to her. A giant submarine that travels the waters practically undetected? No one would ever find her. No one would ever catch her. Maybe once she killed the crew, she could take their precious submarine and claim it as her own.

_'Ahhh, but wait...'_

Surely she would have to spare some men in order to help her manage the engines and mechanics, but she was positive they would comply to her every demand. The faces of their dead comrades etched in their minds, reminding them of the fearful woman before them, would surely help with that.

Following Penguin up the stairwell, they came to another metal door. Before turning the handle, Penguin turned to her and said,

"Hahaha I hope you're ready for these guys Asura-chan!"

He pushed open the door and she was immediately met with a blinding light. Stepping in after her eyes adjusted to the light, the first thing she noticed was the large glazed windows that took the place of walls all around the room, illuminating the whole space with sunlight from the seafloor. Not to mention, the breathtaking view it gave of the ocean floor. Schools of fish swam by the windows, in hopes of escaping the sea king not too far behind them.

The room was as big as their mess deck was, filled with everything men could ask for in a game room. Surrounding one of the walls was televisions hooked up with video game consoles. There was an enormous bar placed at another wall, with enough booze to last the crew two lifetimes. The carpet was a deep shade of blood red, and there was an extraordinary Persian carpet lain on top of it. The intricate and marvelous designs of the room complimented the carpet well. The ceiling was high, with a grand diamond chandelier located in the middle. It was obvious how much thought had been put into the design of the room, not to mention the amount of money it would have cost to create something like this.

Why would one captain waste so much money in order to give his crew a room like this? It was not as if pirates had a long life span. The mere existence of this room left Asura with more questions about this crew than she had before walking in.

As she followed Penguin to an open space in the middle of the room, she found herself ultimately confused at what she saw next.

There was a large plastic sheet on the floor with colorful circles, and the few men on top of them were tangled around each other like noodles. They looked utterly ridiculous arranged that way, their bodies obviously beginning to tire out from their positions. They were sweating like pigs, and she recognized two of them as the large twins from the kitchen staff.

One man wearing a mask sat on a couch nearby holding some sort of thick rectangular paper, shouting commands at the men that forced them to rearrange themselves. It looked as if they were even more tangled than they were a few seconds ago.

Stuck in the middle of them was the redhead who happened to follow Penguin everywhere, and if she remembered correctly, he went by the name Shachi. They were all too engrossed into their positions to notice either herself or Penguin, though.

Turning to steal a quick glance in Penguin's direction in order to see his reaction, his expression was that of a young school boy's, eyes shining bright with excitement. His lips were pulled into a goofy grin, and she could not understand what part of what the men were doing would cause such a reaction from him.

Sensing her eyes on him, Penguin turned to Asura and gestured towards the men.

"Have you ever played Twister before, Asura-chan?"

Hearing his voice, Shachi suddenly looked up to see that Penguin had finally arrived, and surprisingly saw Asura standing right next to him. The shock of seeing her sent him falling down, the motion causing everyone else to fall as well.

Watching the men struggling to free their limbs from each other's grasps, Asura shook her head before finally giving a reply.

"No. I cannot say that I have. You call this idiocy a 'game'?"

One of the twins who had managed to free himself stood up and looked at her in astonishment.

"You've never played Twister before, little lady?!"

The man who sat on the couch came to join the rest of the men in shock, surprised that someone in their generation had never heard of the game before.

Equally confused as to why they were making such a big deal about it, Asura nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders and said nothing in response. Feeling the awkward tension around everyone, Penguin decided to speak up and see if there were any other games that Asura might enjoy.

"What about Monopoly? Ever played that Asura-chan?"

But once again he was met with silence from the woman. Deciding to help out his friend, Shachi cut in with the raise of his hand.

"Ahh! If she's never played Monopoly, then why don't we start a game now? It's not a team game or anything so every man for themselves. Maybe she would enjoy it better than Twister?"

With all eyes suddenly on her, Asura began to think it over whether she should entertain these pirates and their mediocre games. It wasn't as though they were going to let her go back to her room anytime soon.

But she had never touched a board game before, better yet played one. A sense of anxiety began to wash over her in hopes that she would not embarrass herself. She lived to strive in everything she participated in. And losing once to their captain already had put her pride in a cloud of despair. There was no way she would lose in anything again. So whatever this 'Monopoly' game was, she would face it straight on like everything else.

"Alright, I'll play. For now. But if I get bored, it'll be your fingers I take as compensation."

Making sure to emphasize on the last part, she ignored the grins from all the men and followed them to a nearby table. Sitting down between Penguin and one of the twins, she waited as the masked man went to a shelf to grab a box. Focusing on him a little more, she could see thick spiky black hair poking out from behind his mask in different directions. She could hardly see his eyes, but the permanent smile that was cut into his mask made it seem that he was always happy, even if his actual face said otherwise.

She would refer to him as "Creepy Mask" for the time being until she found out what his actual name was.

Not long after explaining the rules to her, the group decided to play a practice round in order for Asura to get the gist of the game. However, Shachi had landed on Penguin's territory for the fifth time in the row and had grown frustrated at the continuous loss of his money. In a fit of anger, he flipped the entire board over, sending everyone's pieces flying. The two engineers then began to shout back and forth at each other about how they could never finish a game because the other one always did something to ruin it and so on and so forth.

Quickly losing interest in the commotion while everyone else tried to calm the duo down, Asura made her way to sit on one of the lavish couches that were placed around the room. With her head resting against her palm, she quietly watched the interactions between the crew members in amusement.

She could tell from the way they all spoke to each other that they were very close and had probably been traveling together for a very long time. Taking the chance to glance around the room again, she looked for something, anything that she could recognize from her childhood.

But unfortunately, she came up with nothing. None of the many boxes of games were familiar to her, much less any of the electronic stuff that was scattered around the room. Besides the televisions and booze, she did not recognize anything else. Even the shows playing on the television were new to her, as she had never even watched one before.

_'Great. Something else that Richard kept away from me...I don't know what any of this is.'_

It was highly difficult. To stand in a room where nothing was familiar to you. Where everyone around you was behaving normally as if they did this sort of thing every day. Which she had to remind herself that they did. All of this was second nature for these men. They must have played these games hundreds of times. Or sat around together to watch new episodes of shows they were fond of. They were never kept away from other children. They were never locked away in their rooms, away from humanity. Other little girls must have been given dolls or toys as children.

Well, she had been given knives and drugs instead.

She wondered if Law had ever come to play with his crew before. Even as a captain, he didn't seem the social type, but then again, a captain had no place wasting time playing games with his crew. It was his job to control them and use them to his own expense. This room was probably no more than a way for him to keep them busy during the times he had no need for them. There was no other reasonable explanation that she could come up with.

She was broken by her thoughts to a shift in the couch. Glancing next to her, Creepy Mask had taken a seat on a few cushions away from her, probably as a way to give her space. Catching her staring in his direction, he looked over with a curious tilt of his head.

Neither said anything for a few awkward moments before he stuck out his hand towards her.

"The names Akemi."

Giving his hand a quick glance, she returned her gaze to his mask in hopes she could get a better look at what his face underneath looked like.

Before she could stop herself she blurted out,

"Why do you wear that creepy-ass mask?"

Instantly surprised by her sudden question, Akemi found himself bursting into laughter at her lack of proper social skills. He was left with a curious look due to his outburst, so he replied in between chuckles,

"Is there some reason why you don't cover up all those scars of yours?"

Pointing to all the marks covering her body, Asura took a good look at one of her arms and the scars that were scattered across. Tracing over one of them with her thumb, she remained quiet for several moments in thought as to what would be an appropriate answer to respond with.

Of course, she didn't owe him an answer or anything. But the curiosity of what his face could look like, and his calm demeanor made her feel a little comfortable, all thoughts of sadness or rage slipping from her mind.

"That's a good question, Akemi-san. Probably because I could care less to who sees what has happened to me."

Nodding his head with satisfaction at her answer, he turned to watch the engineers arguing as the twins tried their hardest to pry them away from each other.

"That's cool. I guess I could understand that. I'm the opposite of you though...I _don't_ want people seeing what's happened to me."

With that, he got up and joined the now arguing twins, not even looking back to notice Asura's curious stare. She could only sit there and wonder what sort of scars his past held as well. Could he be someone aboard this submarine that actually had an ounce of understanding of what she had been through?

Sensing the path her mind was taking, she quickly shook her head and cursed herself for even considering the fact of becoming friends with any of these men. This was why she did not want to spend any time around them. She just knew that something like this was going to happen. She needed to get away from them now.

Once she figured their attentions were far away from her, she quickly stood and ducked out of the room before any of them could see that she was gone.

* * *

Several hours after that morning's shenanigans, Asura was once again sprawled out on her bed engrossed in one of the few books she kept with her. It was getting close to dinner time, so she figured she might as well take a shower and get ready before the rest of the crew got off from their jobs and did the same. The water always got cold really fast when everyone was in there and a warm shower was what she really needed at the moment. Leaving her book on the bed, she got up and locked her bedroom door and went across the hall to the submarine's showers.

Back in the mess deck, some of the crew who had finished their duties early were hanging out and drinking once again before it was time for dinner. Jim and the twins were already cooking whatever delicious meal they had planned for the night, if the strong aroma coming from the kitchen was anything to go by.

Bepo was at one of the tables along with Penguin and Shachi playing a deck of cards when he noticed his captain suddenly walk through the doors.

The first thing Bepo noticed was that Law looked as though he had not slept in weeks. Without the help of his usual hat, his hair was in disarray and the usual dark bags under his eyes seemed to be even darker than before. Thanks to his great sense of smell, he could tell his captain probably hadn't changed out of that white shirt in a few days either. His appearance let the navigator know why he hadn't seen Law around for the past few days.

He had more than likely locked himself in his room again with his many books, staying up for late hours and denying his body the amount of sleep and food he needed. A human could only survive on caffeine for so long...

Wondering if his captain would be staying for a while, he asked,

"Captain! There you've been. Wanna join us for our next game of poker?"

From his position at the coffee/tea table they had installed a few months back at the request of several crew members, Law turned to his friend with a mug of steaming coffee in his hands.

"I'm in the middle of some research Bepo, I don't have time to play card games right now. Maybe another time."

Moving his gaze around the room, he saw that mostly everyone had now made their way into the mess deck for dinner. Well...mostly everyone. A certain brunette still happened to be missing. Actually, he had barely seen her the past few days now that he thought about it. He had mostly locked himself in his room researching some new medical books he had received in Kodachi. He hadn't really needed to see her that much since the majority of his medical exams on her were finished. But he knew she was aware of what time dinner would begin, so he had expected to see her here already.

Turning his gaze back to Bepo he asked,

"Bepo, have you seen Asura-ya?"

Shaking his head sadly, Bepo replied,

"No captain sorry. I haven't seen her all day."

"We saw her earlier this morning captain! She was in the game room with us but then suddenly disappeared once Shachi and I got into a little argument."

Scratching the back of his head, Penguin figured he probably hadn't needed to add the last part since he knew how much his captain hated it when he and Shachi got into it.

Giving a small frown, Law wondered what could possibly be keeping her so long. He would wait several more minutes before sending someone to go check on her in her room.

Back in the showers, Asura got fully undressed and discarded her clothes on one of the benches near her shower stall. Stepping in, her toes flinched as they touched the chilled ceramic floor. She turned the metallic dial and felt a shock of surprise when the water that hit her skin was ice cold. She always forgot that showers worked like that. You sadly had to wait for the water to turn warm.

Once it did, she instantly felt her muscles relax. The warm droplets formed steam around her as she stood there without moving at all, letting the water soak through her long hair. Her mind began to fade into dullness, the sensation of the water trickling down her back making her feel like she was standing under an everlasting waterfall. With her eyes closed, her mind began to wander. Images of blood, ripped flesh, crying children, and a certain set of eyes ran through her mind like photographs. Images that she would sacrifice anything to forget.

Pulling her head back to wipe the water from her eyes, she ran her hands through her hair with an exasperated sigh and turned around in order to grab the shampoo from the wall behind her. It was then where she suddenly looked down to the tile floor and noticed something that immediately ran her blood cold.

With her mind in ultimate shock, she let out a bloodcurdling scream and ran from the showers faster than she ever had in her entire life. Slamming into the door of her bedroom, she frantically tried to turn the handle but remembered she had left the key for her room inside the showers with her clothes. Too shaken to even move, she remained perched against the wall.

During the same time, as Law was waiting for Asura, he suddenly heard her scream from somewhere in the sub. Even through all of the noise that his crew was making, he was certain that he had heard it, and as if to reassure him, the look on Bepo's face told him he had heard it too.

Dropping his mug, he ignored the sound of shattering ceramic as he burst through the doors and made his way to where he figured she would be - her room. With Bepo and a few crew members in tow, they made their way to the beginning of the hallway where everyone stopped as soon as they saw Law do the same.

There at the end of the hallway, backed against her door, was a woman that Law didn't recognize. The look of terror on Asura's face, the way her entire naked body was shaking as she clutched her hands to her chest. None of it matched the frightening and strong woman he had come to know in the past week.

Looking closer, he could see her lips trembling as if she was trying to say something, but no sounds came out. Ushering everyone to stay behind him, he took several steps closer to her to see if she would notice his presence. Trying to test the waters, he tried calling her name out.

"Asura-ya."

No response. This time he moved closer and tried to call to her once again, this time a little bit louder.

"ASURA-YA."

She snapped her eyes to his, and as if a switched had been turned on, she suddenly ran and leaped into his arms. Law was caught off guard as she threw her arms around him and he didn't know what to do as he realized her entire body was still very wet and _very_ bare.

Grabbing her by the shoulders, he pushed her away and gave her a look of utter concern. Never did he think he would see such a look of terror on this woman's face. Just what the hell had happened to her in the shower?

"What the hell happened?"

With one of his hands still on her shoulder, he felt her muscles tense up as she looked behind him to see that majority of the crew had gathered in the hallway to see what had happened. At the front of the crowd stood Bepo, Penguin, a bloody-nosed Shachi, a very curious Haru followed by a very hesitant Ren.

Turning to look behind her, she pointed her finger towards the shower door and suddenly screamed out,

"F-FUCKING C-COCK-C-COCKROACH! "

Silence.

There was nothing but complete and utter silence as Law and his crew took a second for her words to process in their minds. And as if ultimately on cue, the entire crew burst into fits of laughter...save for Law, Bepo, and Penguin.

Men all around were holding their stomachs as tears were falling down their faces. Over the past week, they had all been so cautious of the woman aboard their ship, in distress that she posed a slight threat to them. But..but now? Oh man, someone _that_ terrified of a mere cockroach probably wouldn't be able to hurt a fly, much less one of the men on their crew.

"SILENCE."

All mouths immediately shut up as their captain suddenly spoke out in a voice so angry, some of them thought they would piss themselves. Never taking his eyes away from hers, Law hissed out,

"All of you get back to the mess deck. _Now."_

The Heart Pirates wasted no time as they all scattered away within seconds, leaving nobody but Law and Asura in the hallway. Gazing at him skeptically for his sudden change in attitude, Asura chose not to say anything as his gaze continued to pierce hers. She could tell he was angry, but it almost felt as though it was an act. She had seen him actually angry before. Something about this time was just...different.

"Do you enjoy making a mockery out of me and my crew?"

Scrunching her eyebrows together in confusion, she threw her hands in the air in frustration.

"What the hell are you talking about Trafalgar-san?! Aren't you going to send anyone to take care of that thing?"

Clenching his jaw with frustration, Law continued,

"Do you have any idea what was going through our minds when we heard your scream?"

Stepping closer to her, he took note of the step she nervously took to get farther back, her arms coming to wrap themselves around her body. Probably realizing she was completely naked after her shock had died down.

Looking down to the floor she muttered,

"I...no..no I have no idea. I'm sorry...t-the sight of bugs..I just can't stand them."

Looking at him again, Law could only see confusion and terror in her eyes. There were no signs of deception or malice. She genuinely did not understand how her actions had affected them, and no matter what he said, she would probably never understand.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, he pinched the bridge of his nose and just shook his head in defeat. This woman was going to be the literal _death_ of him.

"I can't believe this. Asura-ya, get dressed and meet us in the Mess Deck. It's time for dinner."

He turned to walk away, but felt a tugging at his shirt's sleeve. Looking over his shoulder he saw her scratch the back of her head as if she wanted to get something off her chest.

With a roll of his eyes, he asked,

"What? What is it?"

Laughing nervously, she pointed her thumb behind her to the shower door.

"Um..any way that you could get rid of it before you go?"

This time, it was his turn to break into a smirk as he tugged his sleeve away from her grasp and continued to make his way back to the Mess Deck.

"Sorry Asura-ya. The sight of bugs...I just can't stand them."

Her jaw dropped with shock as she watched him round the corner of the hallway and disappear out of sight, leaving her all alone once again. Teeth gritting in anger, she realized how stupid of her it was to ask him such a thing.

_'Of course he wouldn't help me. Shit, why would he? He doesn't owe me anything.'_

_'...But still...I really thought he would have realized how terrified I am of those monstrous creatures. Fuck! I need to get my key back damnit...'_

Suddenly sensing that she was not alone anymore in the hallway, she looked up expecting to see Law in hopes he had changed his mind, but instead she was met with a large white fur ball.

"What do you want, Bepo? Are you here to laugh at me too?"

Spitting out her words at him in anger, she looked down to see a white towel in his hands. Nervously, the bear made his way over to her and offered her the towel with both hands, his head hung low in embarrassment.

"I thought you might need this, Asura-chan."

She gave him a wary glance, but took the towel from him nonetheless, wrapping herself up.

Well that was one problem taken care of...now all she needed was her key back. And as if on some sort of sick cue, the bear spoke up,

"I...I can take care of the cockroach for you. Just give me one sec."

Not waiting for a reply, Bepo made his way past her and into the showers. Not a minute later, he came out and ushered for her to go back in.

"It's safe now, Asura-chan."

She stood there still for several minutes, taking in what had just happened. Just yesterday, she had confessed to Law the urges she was having at wanting to kill Bepo and without a clue in the world, this idiot had just helped her more in these several seconds, than anyone had since she first came onto the sub. It was not possible for her to feel things such as guilt or empathy anymore. Feelings like those had been stripped from her a long time ago.

So she couldn't say that her opinion on the animal had changed. The urge to taint his white fur with a beautiful red was still itching at her in the back of her mind. But she could admit there was a newfound respect for him. One that even she was mature enough to not ignore. She would remember this moment when it came time to kill him. And maybe...just maybe...she would make his suffering a little less...insufferable.

"Thank you." That was all she said before she went back into the showers to get her key and clothes, leaving Bepo alone and confused in the hallway, unsure if he had done something wrong from her curt reply.

* * *

It's three in the morning when Asura finds herself suddenly waking up in the middle of the night. The urgent feeling to pee overtakes her and she dashes for the private bathroom thats attached to her bedroom. With a wash of her hands, she slowly makes her way back into the dark bedroom, the only source of light coming from the moon through the porthole. Laying down again, she tossed and turned for several minutes before realizing she couldn't go back to sleep.

With an annoyed growl, she quickly put on a large t-shirt before leaving her room quietly and making her way to the Mess Deck. She was skilled in the sense of keeping quiet, so her footsteps could barely be heard as she made her way through the even darker hallways. It was a good thing she remembered where to go, because she could barely see a thing.

Pushing open the doors of the Mess Deck, the room was full of portholes so it was much easier to find her way around. She moved to where she remembered the fridge to be and grabbed a cup from the coffee table as she poured herself some milk. Next, she went to the microwave and warmed the milk for several seconds before taking the cup and moving to one of the tables directly next to a porthole.

She sat quietly and watched the sea for some time, amused by all the different types of fish that swam by. Their way of living was so easy, she thought. They were able to swim about freely, their destination unknown to any other being but themselves. They could travel the entire world if they wanted to. Nothing was standing in their way, except for a bigger fish. But that was the way that their world worked. There was always someone bigger, or stronger, or even smarter than you. But at least there was no way for fish to take each other hostage, holing them away in a small room inside a cave with nothing but dried bread crumbs and sewer water to survive with.

Oh, how envious she really was of them. She would give her arms and legs away in order to become a mere fish. Because at least then she would have the freedom to choose where she wanted to go. She was just so.. _so_ tired of running away.

It amazed her that six years had passed so suddenly. She had spent every second of them filled with anxiety and fear. Fear that Richard would find her and take her back with him. She wasn't afraid he would kill her. Hell, she had begged him to do it on more than one occasion. Death would have been paradise compared to what he probably had in store for her if he ever caught her again.

But what was the point of running anymore? All of that running she had done meant nothing now. Not when she had met someone who could make her feel those exact emotions that Richard could. And all with the simple snap of his fingers accompanied by a very useful Devil Fruit. That is all it had taken to take her down.

So why not return herself back to Richard? What did she have to lose anymore? Not a damn thing, that's what.

_'Tch. Pathetic. You're defeated one time and you already want to go jumping back into his arms? Might as well slit your own throat right here and now.'_

_'To think...I thought you could have been much...much stronger.'_

Before her mind can lecture her further, she looks up to the sound of the doors opening and catches her breathe in her throat at the sight of a tired and shirtless Law making his way into the Mess Deck. He's wearing nothing but his sweatpants and she's not sure if its a result of the moonlight or her imagination, but right there in that moment she decides that she has never seen a more beautiful man in her life.

But she suddenly remembers their earlier encounter and how he hadn't even thought twice about helping her, so she moves her gaze out the window and decides it would be best to ignore him.

As he pours himself some coffee, Law takes note of his guest sitting alone at one of the tables. He hadn't expected to see anyone else awake so late into the night, especially with how drunk everyone had gotten at dinner. Well, everyone except Asura of course.

For some reason, he finds himself making his way towards the same table, all the voices in his head telling him to go back to his room and continue his research. But for tonight, he would give himself a small break and ignore them for once.

He sits himself across from her, the pair drinking their drinks in silence for several minutes before she breaks and asks him a sudden question.

"Trafalgar-san I take it you noticed my faltering whenever you asked if I had any family, correct?"

Law set his mug down with one hand on the cup, leaning back to set his arm on the chair. He doesn't look at her but simply nods his head, remembering the words they had exchanged her first day on his submarine.

Asura gives an affirmative nod, and follows his gaze to the porthole once again. She doesn't say anything for a while, which causes him to look up at her. His eyes widen as he notices how glossy her eyes have come, but yet he can see the hint of a small genuine smile on her face. A smile that he never believed she would be able to make or would ever let someone witness.

But still, with the moonlight shining right through the hole and onto her face, he can't help but think how beautiful this psychotic and enraging woman before him is.

Just then, her soft voice breaks him from his thoughts.

"Animals are amusing creatures, don't you agree?" She doesn't look at him while she continues on, "For example, rainbow fish that shoal together, are able to distinguish between their relatives and travel together. As one big family. One wonders how a simple minded animal such as a fish can recognize their own kin."

Her smile began to fade away, as she continued while Law watched her silently.

"However...a simple guppy will swallow her children immediately after giving birth, not even having the intelligence to realize what she has just done."

She turns to look at him with a bitter gleam in her eyes, both of her hands clenching onto the glass of her now finished milk.

"I was born a guppy Trafalgar-san. A mere forgotten guppy in a sea full of millions of other fish. That is all there is to it. So go ahead and add that to your little file you have on me."

With that, she stood up and left the hall, leaving behind her cup and one very intrigued Law. Laughing to himself, he could only gaze into his cup as he added,

"A guppy huh?"

Standing up, he looked to the doors of the room and added,

"I would go with something more along the lines of a Great White Shark, Asura-ya."


	13. The Beautiful Color Of Lavender

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own One Piece, Eiichiro Oda does. Asura and any characters you don't recognize are all mine!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Asura was suddenly thrown awake by a loud noise coming from outside of the submarine. Thinking they were being attacked by a Sea King, she looked to the porthole in her room to notice the sun seeping in and realized that the submarine was currently above water. Before she had a chance to process what was going on, she was suddenly thrown out of her bed as the submarine began to rock, followed by another loud BOOM.

Picking herself off the floor and detangling herself from her sheets, she ran to the window in time to see a number of cannons coming their way from a ship a near distance away. It was making its way towards them, but it was still too far away to tell if it was the Marines or another pirate ship.

More cannons came their way and the submarine continued to rock harshly as she tried to balance herself on her feet without falling to the floor. Holding herself against the wall, she did her best to move to her drawers and grabbed the first thing she could. Putting on just an oversized white t-shirt and underwear, she didn't waste any time before grabbing her gun and a dagger and making her way out of the room, not even bothering to lock her door.

The hallways were filled with chaos as crewmembers ran every which way, doing their best to take control of the situation. The submarine rocked again, and she was thrown to the other side of the hallway, catching herself on the wall before she fell to the floor.

_'Just what the hell is going on?! The one day I want to fucking sleep in!'_

She tried to catch any sort of clue as to what was happening from the crew members that were running down the hall, listening in on their frantic cries.

"Damn it, hurry it up guys, we need to reload our cannons!"

"Anyone seen Kyo or Toyo?! We have injured in the infirmary!"

"Anyone who can still fight needs to hurry out onto the deck! We need to back up Captain and the others!"

Not needing to know any more details, she made her way to the front of the submarine as fast as she could. In all of her excitement, she had forgotten to rewrap the bandage around her foot, blood seeping through and onto the bandage. She was beginning to feel some minor aching coming from the wound, but at this point, there was nothing she could do.

_'Shit, I probably reopened the stitches. Whatever, Law can worry about that later. Right now, I need to make it to the deck.'_

Her eyes were filled with excitement and joy at the thought of finally being able to slice through someone's neck. Surely Law wouldn't hold her back from joining in on the fun? He made it clear she wasn't to touch any of his men, but he never said anything about touching the enemy.

Well, not like they were _her_ enemy. Just some unfortunate idiots who weren't aware of the danger that was lurking on this submarine. She couldn't help but smile in delight at the idea of their bloodcurdling screams as she made her way into the battle, unaware what was coming for them. She didn't care if they were the Marines or pirates, they would all get killed the same way.

She skipped happily to the deck, careful not to put too much pressure on her foot when she finally reached the door that would lead her outside. Opening the hatch, she was met with a blinding light as she made her way out. She could feel the wind blowing against her skin, the smell of the ocean water making its way into her nose.

She hadn't expected to miss the outside world so much, having been trapped underwater for more almost two weeks now. Once her eyes had adjusted to the sunlight, she looked around at the chaotic scene in front of her.

The enemy's ship was much closer now, Asura sighing in relief when she noticed it wasn't the Marines. The ship in front of her was much larger than any Marine ship she had ever seen. Looking to the Jolly Roger, she was slightly confused as it was someone she didn't recognize.

_'A no name pirate is attacking the submarine of The Heart Pirates? Either their captain is a complete dumbass or he just might have what it takes to take Law down. Hmmm, now that's something.'_

Their Jolly Roger was a little simple, she had to admit. It had the traditional skull and crossed bones design, but instead of bones, they were replaced with two red roses. Looking onto the ship, she estimated a crew of about 200 but none of them really stood out so she couldn't tell who the captain was.

There was a large plank connecting the two ships now, men from both sides crossing to clash swords. She spotted Bepo almost immediately since he stuck out like a sore thumb among a group of humans. He was kicking the ass of every man that came his way, surprising her with his skill of karate. She wasn't aware that the bear could fight like that. She wasn't aware the bear could fight _at all._

Near him were Penguin and Shachi, their backs pressed against each other as they readied their weapons for the group of enemies that had circled them in. Hoping that she would finally be able to see one of them die, she leaned along the railing to get a better view.

She watched Penguin's lips scream something to Shachi, and almost immediately the two broke off and began to take their enemy down one by one. Not even a few minutes later, all the men were down as the duo high fived each other in delight. A little disappointing at the lack of a blood show, her eyes scanned the rest of the scene.

The Heart Pirates were holding their own against the crew of 200, not slowing down in any of their movements. Some of them had already advanced onto the enemy ship and were taking down men left and right. All around her were the cries of men dying, the smell of blood in the air. She could smell the sweat and fear coming from the men around her, sticking to her as she made her way closer to the bloodbath.

With the stench of death in the air, her palms began to itch as she so desperately wanted to plunge her dagger into someone's flesh. To feel the warmth of their blood splatter across her face, hear their lovely cries as she killed them instantly. She could only hear the thump-thump of her excited heartbeat as it pounded deafeningly through her head.

Asura moved quickly onto the second level of the deck, making her way towards the plank so that she too, could join in on the fun. Walking faster now, she ran as fast as her foot could take her.

Her eyes found one man in the crowd who had just stabbed one of the Heart Pirates in the leg. His eyes were a beautiful shade of lavender, entrancing her completely, and with a devilish smile on her face she made her way towards her first victim.

Forgetting about the pain shooting through her foot, she broke out into an all-out sprint, moving closer to her prey.

_'Just a little bit closer and you're mine, baby.'_

With her mind completely overtaken with excitement, she didn't take her wide eyes off of him for a second. She was too overtaken with a bloodlust to notice anything else that was going on around her.

When she was almost in reach, a strong arm suddenly shot out in front of her. Feeling as though she had run into a brick wall, her body was thrown back by the momentum of her run, throwing her to the floor.

Moving her crazed eyes to see the bastard who had stopped her, she was surprised that the man standing in front of her was none other than the devil himself, Trafalgar Law.

Forgetting the fact he held her heart, all of that was forgotten as she picked herself up and moved to scream in his face.

"Just what the FUCK do you think you're doing?"

Law was positioned at the front of the upper deck, his eyes taking in the entire scene in front of him. His arms were crossed across his chest, his face stoic and calm, not even caring to pay attention to the short brat in front of him. Never taking his eyes off his men, she grew furious that he was ignoring her. Grabbing her gun, she pressed it against his forehead and he didn't flinch as she pulled back the hammer, ready to shoot a bullet in between his eyes.

"I'll ask you again, Trafalgar-san. What the _fuck_ are you doing?"

"You will stay right here, Asura-ya."

Not even bothering to look at her, he could already predict the look of madness and craze in her eyes at his words. He smirked to himself a little, enjoying the fact he could upset her so easily. It was beginning to become a little hobby of his.

Her eyes widened in shock, but she pressed on further, the thoughts of killing that lavender eyed man long gone from her mind. _This_ man in front of her was who she really wanted to kill right now. The thought of Trafalgar lying lifeless on the floor in front of her was an image she kept burning into her mind. She thought of it so much, she was almost positive that it would soon become a reality, his actions from now not helping his case in the slightest.

"Now just tell me, _dear_ Doctor, what could possibly be going on in that beautiful head of yours that would allow you to think that you could keep me from joining in?"

She sneered at him through gritted teeth, far too irritated by that smirk on his face and at the fact he seemed to be enjoying her situation.

"You can lock me up all you fucking want in that horrendous submarine of yours, but this? There's no way in hell you're going to keep me from enjoying myself!"

For the first time since stopping her, he finally took his eyes off of the battle and from his men to peer into her crazed eyes.

They were full of anger and confusion, and above all, they were thirsty for _blood._

He knew all of this, and although it might have been for the best to let her join in to sate her desires, a part of him just could not allow it. She really was interesting in her own way. Many of the women he had met over the years would have locked themselves safely inside the submarine to avoid any sort of bloodshed.

He had to repeatedly remind himself, she wasn't just any women. Hell, she wasn't just any _human._ No one who was normal enough would be so upset at not being able to take someone else's life.

She really _was_ going to hate him for this.

"Listen to me, you annoying little brat. _You_ are under _my_ care as _my_ patient. Did you even notice all of that blood seeping through your bandages?"

Pointing his finger to her foot, he crossed his arms once again before looking back towards his men again.

"I didn't take away time from my precious schedule, just so you could go and injure yourself again. As your doctor, I don't deem you ready to fight, so take your ass back into the submarine. _Now."_

Raging with fury, Asura wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or scream. Was now really the time for him to be continuing this ridiculous act of playing her doctor? This injury of hers was absolutely nothing! She didn't need to be at her best in order to slaughter through half of these pathetic pirates. All she was asking for was one victim! Just ONE.

But once again, this bastard was the one getting in the way of her happiness. Feeling her blood beginning to boil, she couldn't help as she let out all of her thoughts on the devilish captain at once.

"You think you're so high and mighty, don't you, Trafalgar? Look at your fucking men! There are 200 of those bastards and you've sent out a group of 17 to handle all of them? And what, you think you can just fucking sit back and _watch?_ You're the biggest fucking coward I've ever met in my life! Both of us know that you could fucking kill all of them with just a few little tricks from your stupid devil fruit, but yet you choose to sit back and let them do all the dirty work for you!

Grabbing her dagger, she moved to run it across his precious face, hoping he would give her some kind of reaction, but he never broke eye contact with the battle. He refused to give in and show her any sort of reaction, which only angered the crazed woman further.

"You're just like every other pirate captain. Shit, you...you're just like HIM! The both of you have no care for any of your subordinates! You use them like fucking chess pieces, and throw them away when you're done. Your men don't worship you or love you, you piece of shit. They're terrified of you! Of what would happen to them if they didn't obey you. You could end this entire fight with a snap of your fucking fingers, couldn't you?! So why not come to the rescue of your _precious_ little crew? I would never follow a coward and a pathetic pirate captain like you, Trafalgar Law. So remember this fucking moment. Because you just made the biggest mistake of your life and just cost your entire crew their lives."

Storming away, she made sure to jam her shoulder into his side as she walked past him. She made her way past Jean-Bart who had just appeared from inside the submarine and didn't utter a single word as she made her way back inside, slamming the door behind her.

Glancing between the door, and his captain, Jean-Bart gave a curious glance, not sure what he had just walked on. Sensing the man's presence behind him, Law turned to him with his infamous smirk.

"Has it been taken care of, Jean-Bart-ya?"

"Yes, Captain. Everything has been prepared the way you instructed."

Turning back to watch the final stages of the battle, Law let out a small laugh to himself, unsure of how he was going to break the news to his little guest later. He was a little excited for how she was going to react, especially after her little tantrum just now.

"Very well, go check in on the infirmary and let me know if any assistance is needed. Our men should be finishing up out here very soon."

With a small bow, Jean-Bart nodded and made his way back inside the submarine, leaving Law alone on top of the deck.

* * *

Several hours had passed since the fight from that morning. The entire crew was now gathered in the Mess Deck, including everyone who had been injured. No one had suffered any fatal or critical injuries, so after being bandaged and treated, they were all well enough to join in on the victory dinner.

Everyone was in high spirits since they hadn't been able to battle in a very long time. In fact, it had been their first battle since being reunited with their Captain and the other crewmates, and adding the fact that they won, they were all on cloud nine.

Pushing through the doors, Law made his way inside and was greeted by many cheers and hello's from his crew, bringing a smile to his face at how a simple victory could bring them such joy.

He made his way to his table, Jean-Bart and Bepo already waiting for him. Noticing the empty seat of his guest, he cast a curious glance around the room, seeing if he could spot her anywhere.

Bepo then spoke up, already having an idea of just who his captain was looking for.

"Um..Asura-chan isn't here yet, Captain. I'm sorry...I went to her room to fetch her, but...she wasn't there. I figured she would be with you."

Frowning a little at his words, Law stood back up from the table and strode towards the doors, stopping as he heard Bepo call out to him.

"Captain, where are you going? Jim's about to bring out dinner!"

"Don't worry about me Bepo, I'll have some leftovers brought to my room later. You guys go ahead."

Not bothering to turn around, he just gave a lazy wave over his shoulder and continued to walk out into the hall.

If Bepo had already checked for her in her bedroom, then just where in the hell was she? He felt a little unnerved, not knowing where she was in this huge submarine. Especially in the state of mind that she had been. She was a ticking time bomb, and he was a little grateful that his entire crew was already in the Mess Deck, leaving no potential victims out in the open for her.

He stopped in the middle of the hallway, and closed his eyes. Focusing all of his energy on his Haki, he could just faintly sense the presence of someone on the floor beneath him.

_'Ahhh, I found you.'_

Making his way to the lower floor, he wasn't surprised when he walked into the training room, to see her standing in the middle of it drenched in sweat. She was attacking one of the many dummies they often used for sparring practice, but she had attacked it so many times, that it didn't even look like a dummy anymore.

"I think you've already done a number on that one, don't you think?"

Making his way towards her, he was a little surprised she had nothing to retort back to him. She continued to slash away at the dummy from different angles, using the dagger that was in her hand. She was either pretending she didn't hear him or was so lost in her attacks that she hadn't even noticed he was there.

"Asura-ya..."

He went to grab her shoulder but had to swiftly dodge an attack meant for his neck, when she suddenly slashed at the air in front of him. Taking a step back, he grabbed his neck just to make sure she hadn't nicked his skin. Letting out a small laugh, he cast her a glance of amusement but was met with the darkest glare he'd ever seen.

"Don't fucking touch me, Trafalgar."

"Now is that any way to speak to your precious captain?"

Her eyes grew ten times in size, as her jaw dropped with shock. Who the fuck did this guy think he was?! Had he entirely forgotten their little spat that morning?

" _You_ will never have the pleasure of being my captain. Now get out of here. I'm not in the mood for your little games."

Crossing his arms in front of her, he cast a cold glare of his own, tired of her acting like a damn child.

"You think I'll leave just because you ask me to? On _my_ ship? And here I was ready to give you a little present, Asura-ya."

Perking her ears at the word _present,_ she couldn't help but give him a curious glance, a little of her anger already fading away. But she remembered what had happened the last time she had let her guard down around this man. It had resulted in the theft of her heart, so she quickly gave him another scowl, not wanting to entertain him in the slightest.

"The only thing I want from _you_ is my fucking heart back, which I doubt you're going to give me. So like I said, just leave me the hell alone you prick."

Law moved away from her then, which grabbed her attention, as he moved to face the large mirror that was in the room. He placed a hand on it but kept his eyes on hers through the reflection.

"Come here, Asura-ya. I want to show you something before I give you your present."

Smirking to himself, he watched as she suspiciously made her way over to him, but stood a little distance away, just in case. Moving to grab one of her hands, he copied his earlier movements and put her hand against the mirror as well. He was silent for a moment before asking,

"Do you sense anything?"

Casting him a crazy glance, she gave him a weird look as she focused on her hand.

"Umm, no? Did you hit your stupid head or something?"

He moved closer to her and leaned down to press his lips against her ear. Her initial instinct was to move away, but her body refused to move for some reason.

_'Damn it...why can't I ever escape him when he gets this close?!'_

"Close your eyes and pay attention. Put your entire focus on your hand. Now tell me, once again, do you sense anything?"

Doing as she was told, although reluctantly, she put her entire focus on just her hand. Canceling out the noise and his presence right next to her, she was suddenly surprised as she could make out two faint heartbeats, just behind the mirror.

Opening her eyes wide, she stammered out,

"Umm, I feel two heartbeats, but...isn't that just us? I mean I know you keep mine in your pocket so what does this have to do with anything? You're acting really weird and I don't like it."

Law let out a small chuckle to himself at what was about to come. Putting his hand around her waist, he moved her closer before she could react and push herself away.

"You'll see in just a moment."

 _"Room._ "

She felt her body grow increasingly light all of a sudden, as though she was floating on air. She was blinded by a bright light, so she instinctively closed her eyes shut, not sure of what was happening to them. It felt as though her body was being pulled into another dimension, but the feeling only lasted for less than a second. When it had stopped, she noticed that she still had her eyes shut, but didn't feel the warmth of Law's body near her anymore.

Getting a little freaked out, she opened her eyes but was met with complete darkness. A little scared that she might have lost her sight, she moved around to see if she could grab onto anything, but nothing was around her. She couldn't sense Law anywhere, and for a second she thought he might have abandoned her somewhere as punishment for what she had done earlier that morning.

"Trafalgar? Oiiii you shitty captain, where the hell did you go? Don't tell me this is your idea of payback!"

When she got no response, she threw herself to the ground, wrapping her arms around herself.

_'Damn it...not again...please don't tell me I'll be locked up again...please...'_

Just then, a pungent smell made it's way to her nose. Something that she hadn't noticed before. Looking around her in the darkness, she suddenly shot up and moved around the space to get a better whiff.

_'Blood?'_

The stench of blood ultimately surrounded her everywhere, taking over all of her senses. She was fading into the darkness of her mind once again, completely entranced by the smell. Her nerves began to calm themselves, being surrounded by a stench that she loved so much and felt the most comfortable in.

There were traces of old and fresh blood all around her, she was certain. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be locked up in here forever. The smell would keep her calm and level-headed and she wouldn't ever have to see that stupid bastard or his stupid smirk ever again. Just when she was beginning to enjoy the idea, she was interrupted by his irritating voice.

"Are you going to just stand around there all day, Asura-ya?"

Moving her gaze somewhere in the darkness, she couldn't exactly see him all too well, but she had an idea of where he would be standing.

"I wouldn't if I knew where the fuck we _were,_ Trafalgar."

"I see, maybe this will help."

Flipping on the light switch from where she knew he was standing, the room was suddenly engulfed in a bright light. The change of brightness was too much for her eyes to handle, immediately causing for her eyes to shut themselves.

"Oi! A warning next time would you?! My eyes are sensitive!"

Opening her eyes after several seconds, she moved to shoot him an icy glare but was shocked at what she saw around her. Her eyes opened wide and she was left speechless at everything that surrounded her. Her heart began to beat wildly in her chest, her palms growing sweaty. She felt a shiver go up her spine, so shocked that her body wouldn't move, no matter how much she screamed at it to.

"What..."

"What the hell is this place...?"


End file.
